ArchaeologyWorld

The Importance of Radiocarbon Dating To Archaeology

2009-09-01T06:06:00.000-07:00

- Kelly Long, Associate State Archaeologist

Several timescale problems arise when it comes to dating archaeological samples. For example, Christian time counts the birth of Christ as the beginning, AD 1 (Anno Domini); everything that occurred before Christ is counted backwards from AD as BC (Before Christ). The Greeks consider the first Olympic Games as the beginning or 776 BC. The Muslims count the Prophet’s departure from Mecca, or the Hegira, as their beginning at AD 662. The Mayan calendar used 3114 BC as their reference. More recently is the radiocarbon date of 1950 AD or before present, BP.

There are two techniques for dating in archaeological sites: relative and absolute dating.

Relative dating stems from the idea that something is younger or older relative to something else. In a stratigraphical context objects closer to the surface are more recent in time relative to items deeper in the ground. Although relative dating can work well in certain areas, several problems arise. Rodents, for example, can create havoc in a site by moving items from one context to another. Natural disasters like floods can sweep away top layers of sites to other locations. Absolute dating represents the absolute age of the sample before the present. Historical documents and calendars can be used to find such absolute dates; however, when working in a site without such documents, it is hard for absolute dates to be determined.

As long as there is organic material present, radiocarbon dating is a universal dating technique that can be applied anywhere in the world. It is good for dating for the last 50,000 years to about 400 years ago and can create chronologies for areas that previously lacked calendars. In 1949, American chemist Willard Libby, who worked on the development of the atomic bomb, published the first set of radiocarbon dates. His radiocarbon dating technique is the most important development in absolute dating in archaeology and remains the main tool for dating the past 50,000 years.

How It Works:

Carbon has 3 isotopic forms: Carbon-12, Carbon-13, and Carbon-14. The numbers refer to the atomic weight, so Carbon-12 has 6 protons and 6 neutrons, Carbon-13 has 6 protons and 7 neutrons, and Carbon-14 has 6 protons and 8 neutrons. The extra neutrons in Carbon-14’s case make it radioactive (thus the term, radiocarbon).

Radiocarbon is produced in the upper atmosphere after Nitrogen-14 isotopes have been impacted by cosmic radiation. Radiocarbon is then taken in by plants through photosynthesis, and these plants in turn are consumed by all the organisms on the planet.

So every living thing has a certain amount of radiocarbon within them. After an organism dies, the radiocarbon decreases through a regular pattern of decay. This is called the half-life of the isotope. The time taken for half of the atoms of a radioactive isotope to decay in Carbon-14’s case is about 5730 years.

Half-lives vary according to the isotope, for example, Uranium-238 has a half-life of 4500 million years where as Nitrogen-17 has a half-life of 4.173 seconds! Looking at the graph, 100% of radiocarbon in a sample will be reduced to 50% after 5730 years. In 11,460 years, half of the 50% will remain, or 25%, and so on.

Limitations and calibration:

When Libby was first determining radiocarbon dates, he found that before 1000 BC his dates were earlier than calendar dates. He had assumed that amounts of Carbon-14 in the atmosphere had remained constant through time. In fact, levels of Carbon-14 have varied in the atmosphere through time. One good example would be the elevated levels of Carbon-14 in our atmosphere since WWII as a result of atomic bombs testing. Therefore, radiocarbon dates need to be calibrated with other dating techniques to ensure accuracy.

Plants are not the only organism that can process Carbon-14 from the air. Plankton absorbs, Carbon-14 from the ocean much like terrestrial plants absorb Carbon-14 from the air. Since plankton is the foundation of the marine food chain, Carbon-14 is spread throughout aquatic life. Shellfish remains are common in coastal and estuarine archaeological sites, but dating these samples require a correction for the “reservoir effect” a process whereby "old carbon" is recycled and incorporated into marine life especially shellfish inflating their actual age in some cases several centuries. In recognition of this problem archaeologists have developed regional reservoir correction rates based on ocean bottom topography, water temperature, coastline shape and paired samples of terrestrial and marine objects found together in an archaeological feature such as a hearth.

Long tree-ring sequences have been developed throughout the world and can be used to check and calibrate radiocarbon dates. An extensive tree-ring sequence from the present to 6700 BC was developed in Arizona using California bristlecone pine (Pinus aristata), some of which are 4900 years old, making them the oldest living things on earth. Additional sequences have been developed for oak species in Ireland and Germany, ice core samples, and coral reefs from Caribbean islands. These sequences have helped to calibrate radiocarbon dates to calendar years, thus making them more accurate. Normally after 12,500 BP, the coral dating is used.

Example of calibration: 3700 ± 100 BP (P - 685). The first number corresponds to the years before present. The second number is the standard deviation or error for the date. It creates a date range of 3600 - 3800 years before present that the sample can fall under. The letter in parenthesis is the lab the sample was shipped to, in this case Philadelphia, followed by the lab analysis number.

Bibliography:

Greene, Kevin
1983 Archaeology: An Introduction, 3rd edition, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Pp. 114-123.

Refew, Colin, and Paul Bahn
1996 Archaeology: Theories, Methods, and Practice, 2nd edition. London: Thames and Hudson. Pp. 111-162.

Thomas, David Hurst
1998 Archaeology, 3rd edition. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace College Publishers. Pp. 186-194.

Dating the Past

2009-08-23T04:47:00.000-07:00

1. BACKGROUND

It is difficult for prehistorians working in the twenty-first century to conceptualise the problems experienced by their predecessors, and approaches to interpretation before the 1960s are consistently criticised. Culture history and diffusionism may - with hindsight - seem excessively preoccupied with classification and social evolution, and to have applied unsophisticated historical interpretations instead of asking fundamental questions about human behaviour.

2. TYPOLOGY AND CROSS-DATING

It must be made clear at the outset that typology is not, strictly speaking, a dating method, but a means of placing artefacts into some kind of order. Classification divides things up for the purposes of description, whereas typology seeks to identify and analyse changes that will allow artefacts to be placed into sequences.

* TYPOLOGY IN TEXAS ARCHEOLOGY 'The type is the basic unit of classification in archeology. In order to establish order and to facilitate analysis, the archeologist divides his data into typological categories.' (Ellen Sue Turner and Thomas R. Hester: Texas State Historical Association

* LITHICS-Net Point Type Information: Projectile Point Data Indexed By Morphology (Shape). Guide for the identification of North American stone tools (Art Gumbus)

* Stronsay flints: 'The discovery of two tiny flint arrowheads in Stronsay could represent the earliest evidence of human activity found in Orkney – if not Scotland - to date. ... Flint experts Caroline Wickham-Jones and Torbin Ballin subsequently identified them as very early forms of prehistoric arrowheads – a type derived from a classification known as Ahrensburgian, found across the plains of north western Europe.' (Orkneyjar)

2.1. Sequence dating and seriation

These techniques both place assemblages of artefacts into relative order. Petrie used sequence dating to work back from the earliest historical phases of Egypt into pre-dynastic Neolithic times, using groups of contemporary artefacts deposited together at a single time in graves. Seriation was developed in the USA to place in order finds from strata or other kinds of assemblages such as potsherds collected from the surface of sites.

* William Matthew Flinders Petrie (1853-1942) 'He developed a method for establishing the historical chronology of a site based on identifying different styles of pottery. Petrie was known and respected for his belief in the importance of evidence like pot sherds for informing the archaeologist about life in the past.' (Petrie Museum, University College London)

* AN EXERCISE IN SERIATION DATING (PDF file) 'This method of assigning dates to sites ... is based on the fact that a cultural trait, like the type of jeans worn by teens, experiences popularity peaks, in other words, an artifact's popularity rises to a high point and then trails off, sometimes even to extinction.' (George Brauer)

* SERIATION APPLET 'The purpose of this Java program is to allow you to try your hand at determining the proper chronological order the sites should be in according to their seriation.' (MSU EMuseum)

3. HISTORICAL DATING

Prehistorians sometimes overestimate the accuracy and detail of frameworks based on historical evidence; in practice, early written sources may provide little more information than a scatter of radiocarbon dates. The extent of documentation varied considerably in 'historical' cultures and the information that survives is determined by a variety of factors.

* CAVSENNAE / CAVSENNIS Romano-British Town A range of inscriptions and documentary sources brought to bear on dating a small town at Ancaster in Lincolnshire; minor settlements of this kind rarely if ever featured in historical documents (WWW.Roman-Britain.ORG)

* The Thera (Santorini) Volcanic Eruption and the Absolute Chronology of the Aegean Bronze Age A PDF file about Sturt W. Manning's book A test of time: the volcano of Thera and the chronology and history of the Aegean and east Mediterranean in the mid second millennium BC (Oxford: Oxbow Books, 1999), which focuses on the difficulty of reconciling scientific and historical dates.

3.1. Applying historical dates to sites

If a context containing burnt debris and broken artefacts is excavated on a site from a historical period, it is tempting to search the local historical framework for references to warfare or a disaster in the region, and to date the excavated context accordingly.

* In Vesuvius' Shadow New excavation at the most famous ancient site and dated by a historically attested destruction in AD 79: 'Although the Anglo-American Project is interested in the conditions of city life in A.D. 79, the year Vesuvius erupted, we are investigating below the destruction level to understand the whole history of activity and development in VI,1--from its fourth-century B.C. huts to its burial in the late first century A.D.' (Archaeology Magazine).

* Head Street Excavations Excavation in Colchester, England, where traces of destruction dated by the Roman historian Tacitus have been revealed: 'Whenever a Roman house is discovered in Colchester dating to the AD 50s, it almost invariably turns out to have been destroyed by fire. And so it proved at Head Street, where the latest excavation revealed yet another Roman house which was destroyed during the Boudican revolt. The pattern is so consistent that it seems that when Boudica and her followers put the Roman town to the torch during the famous British revolt of AD 60 or 61, the destruction must have been total - every building was burnt.' (Colchester Archaeological Trust).

4.4. SCIENTIFIC DATING TECHNIQUES

The transformation of archaeological dating that began around 1950 continues, but archaeologists may overlook the revolution in scientific dating that had already taken place in geology during the first half of the twentieth century; from this wider perspective, the emergence of radiocarbon dating may seem slightly less dramatic

* Dating rock art Superb introduction to traditional and scientific dating methods and their application. 'The major methodological limitation in rock art studies is that art assemblages can be difficult to date. However, chronological data is crucial to many types of analysis in which rock art evidence is integrated with other archaeological and environmental information. This section will briefly survey the range of dating techniques used in contemporary rock art studies. These fall into two broad categories:

a) Relative dating methods such as degree of weathering, superimposition analysis, stylistic analysis and inter-site patterning.

b) Absolute dating methods such as analysis on the basis of subjects depicted, consistent association with datable deposits, the dating of stratified deposits associated with rock art and the direct dating of the art itself.' ( School of Human and Environmental Sciences, University of New England, Australia)

* Archaeometry and Stonehenge An example of the application of modern scientific dating to a major prehistoric site (English Heritage)

* Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art 'The department is dedicated to the development and application of scientific methods to the study of the past.' Lots of informative links (Oxford University)

4.1. Geological time-scales

Accurate knowledge of the age of the Earth was of little direct help to archaeologists, but it emphasised the potential of scientific dating techniques. The first half of the twentieth century witnessed similar progress that began with the dating of recent geological periods in which early hominids lived, and ended with the introduction of radiocarbon dating.

* Tour of geologic time 'Here you can journey through the history of the Earth, with stops at particular points in time to examine the fossil record and stratigraphy.' (University of California Museum of Paleontology)

* RADIOMETRIC TIME SCALE 'The discovery of the natural radioactive decay of uranium in 1896 by Henry Becquerel, the French physicist, opened new vistas in science. In 1905, the British physicist Lord Rutherford--after defining the structure of the atom-- made the first clear suggestion for using radioactivity as a tool for measuring geologic time directly...' (U.S. Geological Survey)

4.2. Climatostratigraphy

While some geologists concentrated on the age of the Earth, others studied distinctive surface traces left behind by changes in the extent of polar ice during the most recent (Quaternary) geological period. They identified a succession of Ice Ages alternating with temperate conditions (glacials and interglacials) which - if they could be dated - would reveal much about the evolution of early humans in the context of changing environmental conditions.

----- Seabed deposits

Cores extracted from ocean floor deposits reveal variations in oxygen isotopes in the shells and skeletal material of dead marine creatures, which reflect fluctuations in global temperature and the volume of the ocean.

* Temperatures from Fossil Shells 'An example of the ingenious technical work and hard-fought debates underlying the main story is the use of fossil shells to find the temperature of oceans in the distant past.' (American Institute of Physics)

----- Ice cores

A datable record of climatic change in relatively recent periods has been recovered from cores, up to 3 km long, extracted from the ice sheets of Greenland and elsewhere.

* Holocene Variability from ARCSS/GISP2 compared to other Paleo-Proxy Records (Greenland Ice Sheet Project, University of New Hampshire)

* Mount St. Helens volcano A typical volcano that has a long history of eruptions that can influence short-term episodes of climate change detectable in ice-core records (Volcano World)

4.3. Varves

Sections cut through lake beds in glacial regions reveal a regular annual pattern of coarse and fine layers, known as varves. Variations in climate produced observable differences in the thickness of sediments, and, like the patterns of variation in tree rings, this allows matches to be made between deposits in separate lake beds.

* VARVES: annually-deposited sediment '1912 Gerard DeGeer developed the Swedish Varve Chronology, the first accurate dating of the late-glacial and Holocene.' (Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona)

Tephrochronology

Deposits of volcanic ash encountered in stratified contexts on archaeological sites offer opportunities for dating.

* Tephrochronology Group 'The correlation and geochemical analysis of volcanic ash deposits (tephra) allows the identification and dating of isochronous marker horizons within sediment sequences. Tephrochronology thus provides a precise and well-established dating tool, already widely used in the study of Quaternary environmental stratigraphies.' (Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, Oxford University)
* More on Kostenki: How Old is that Tephra? Discussion about dating of a prehistoric site in Russia where volcanic deposits originating in an eruption in Italy were encountered (K. Kris Hirst's Archaeology Blog)

4.4. Pollen (NB: pollen analysis has been superceded as a DATING method by radiocarbon since the 1950s)

Microscopic wind-blown pollen grains survive well in many soil conditions, and pollen that has accumulated in deep deposits - such as peat-bogs - can provide a long-term record of changes in vegetation; suitable samples may be collected from soils exposed by excavation, or from cores extracted from bogs.

* Pollen analysis 'Each sample can be analyzed for pollen grain and spore content, with each grain or spore being identified as the prepared slide is traversed on a mechanical stage under the high-power microscope. Then a pollen diagram, graphical expression of pollen analysis, can be constructed with consideration of sampling error.' (MSU EMuseum)

4.5. Dendrochronology

It has been recognised since at least the fifteenth century that trees produce annual growth rings - their physiology was understood by the eighteenth century - and that they could be counted to calculate the age of a tree when it was felled. Because the thickness of these rings is affected by annual climatic factors, distinctive sequences of rings may be recognised in different samples of timber and used to establish their contemporaneity.

* Wiener Laboratory for Aegean and Near Eastern Dendrochronology This site includes explanations of dendrochronology and links to research projects (Cornell University)

* Ultimate Tree-Ring Web Pages 'My goal is to make available as much information about dendrochronology as I can possibly find on the Internet, from the basics of tree-ring dating, to reference and bibliographic information, to products and supplies, to books, and more!' (Henri D. Grissino-Mayer, University of Tennessee)

* Sheffield Dendrochronology Laboratory '...has existed for over 25 years. The range of sites and types of material examined has enabled its personnel to develop high standards of expertise and professionalism, and to gain international recognition.' Informative links to methods and research projects (University of Sheffield)

* Laboratoire Romand de Dendrochronologie Beautifully illustrated Swiss site (in French) with explanatory photographs that speak for themselves.

----- The application of tree-ring dating

Unfortunately there are many problems in the direct application of dendrochronological dating. Not all tree species are sufficiently sensitive to display distinctive variations in their ring characteristics, particularly when growing in temperate climates. Wood only survives under exceptionally wet or dry conditions, and large timbers must be recovered to provide sufficient rings for valid comparisons because they rely on patterns that accumulated over several decades.

* Crossdating Tree Rings 'You will be able to interact with this presentation, including trying skeleton plotting for yourself!' (Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona)

* Dendrochronology (Tree-Ring Dating) of Panel Paintings 'Many European paintings are painted on solid wooden panels or boards, typically oak for Netherlandish paintings. The wood is usually split radially so that, in ideal circumstances, a sequence of annual growth-rings from pith to sapwood is present. These sequences are then matched one against another by the dendrochronologist and compared with growth sequences whose dates are known from living trees. Absolute dates can thus be assigned to specific annual rings. Sometimes the geographic origin of a board can be determined as well.' (detailed illustrated explanation by Peter Ian Kuniholm)

5. ABSOLUTE TECHNIQUES

5.1. Radioactive decay

The successful development in the early twentieth century of radiometric methods relying upon radioactive decay for dating geological periods offered hope that a similar technique might be found to give absolute dates for prehistoric archaeology.

* What is radioactive dating? Part of a clear introduction to geological dating methods from Australian Museum, Sydney

* PRIME Lab Purdue Rare Isotope Measurement Laboratory: explanations of the principles of Accelerator mass spectrometry, and a wider look at the uses of radioacive isotopes.

5.2. Radiocarbon dating

Radiocarbon dating was one peaceful by-product of accelerated wartime research into atomic physics and radioactivity in the 1940s. The rate of decay of 14C, which has a half-life of 5730 (±40) years, is long enough to allow samples of carbon as old as 70,000 years to contain detectable levels of radioactive emissions, but short enough for samples from periods since the late Stone Age to be measured with reasonable precision.

* Radiocarbon This is the principal periodical for C14 dating - follow the links to further information and individual laboratories.

* Oxford University RLAHA Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit

* Beta Analytic 'World's Largest Radiocarbon Dating Service; AMS, Mass Spectrometry, C14, and more...' Lots of informative links from the homepage of this commercial radiocarbon dating service.

* Radiocarbon WEB-info Detailed explanations of the technique from University of Waikato radiocarbon lab, New Zealand

5.3. Presenting and interpreting a radiocarbon date

Because interpretation is so complex, all radiocarbon dates included in an archaeological publication must be presented in a standard format.

* CALIB Radiocarbon Calibration 'CALIB makes the conversion from radiocarbon age to calibrated calendar years by calculating the probability distribution of the sample's true age. Graphics and a variety of options are available through the program's menus.' (Minze Stuiver and Paula Reimer)

* Why radiocarbon measurements are not true calendar ages How radiocarbon calibration works (from Radiocarbon Web-Info)

* Der Tod startet die Stoppuhr Death starts the stop-watch: 'Everytime a living being dies a stop-watch starts ticking. Science can read this watch and thus determine the age of a find.' A dated but well illustrated description of radiocarbon dating (WebMuseen, Germany)

----- Radiocarbon samples

Most organic materials are suitable for dating; the lower the carbon content, the larger the sample needs to be.

* The Prehistory of Lums Pond: The Formation of an Archaeological Site in Delaware - Vol. II: X. RADIOCARBON ANALYSIS 'Methods: Collection and Processing: Radiocarbon samples were recovered from a variety of proveniences across the site. These included charcoal from concentrations within features; dispersed charcoal from arbitrary levels within features; dispersed charcoal from arbitrary stratigraphic levels not associated with features; and bulk soil samples from stratigraphic levels.' (Delaware Department of Transportation Archaeology Series No. 155)

----- The impact of radiocarbon dating

Radiocarbon dating has grown exponentially, and many problems and inaccuracies have been isolated and examined, some leading to major adjustments of the results. Without doubt, it has made the greatest single contribution to the development of archaeology since geologists and prehistorians escaped from the constraints of historical chronology in the nineteenth century.

* THE CONTRIBUTION OF RADIOCARBON DATING TO NEW WORLD ARCHAEOLOGY PDF file of article by R E Taylor from RADIOCARBON, Vol 42, Nr 1, 2000, p 1–21: 'The application of the 14C method to archaeological materials is generally considered to be a watershed event in the history of archaeology and, in particular, in prehistoric studies... Perhaps the most forceful statement was the view of the late Glyn Daniel that the development of the 14C method in the 20th century should be equated with the 19th century change in the Western world view that accompanied the revelation of the great antiquity of the human species...' (Delaware Department of Transportation Archaeology Series No. 155)

5.4. Potassium-argon (40K/40Ar) and argon-argon dating (40Ar/39Ar)

Potassium-argon is ideal for dating early hominid fossils in East Africa, for they occur in an area that was volcanically active when the fossils were deposited between one and five million years ago; pioneering results in the 1950s doubled previous estimates of their age.

* Chronological Methods 9 - Potassium-Argon Dating 'The Potassium-Argon dating method is an invaluable tool for those archaeologists and paleoanthropologists studying the earliest evidence for human evolution.' Clear introduction from course materials produced by Brian M. Fagan (University of California Santa Barbara)

5.5. Uranium series dating

The dating of rocks back to the Pre-Cambrian by measuring the proportions of uranium to lead or uranium to helium was possible because isotopes of uranium remain radioactive for such a long period.

* Open University Uranium-Series Facility Information on archaeological projects (Department of Earth Sciences, The Open University)

5.6. Fission-track dating

This method involves counting microscopic tracks caused by fragments derived from fission of uranium-238 in glassy minerals, whether geological or of human manufacture. In practice the most useful samples come from zircon or obsidian, which was used extensively for making tools.

* Forschungsstelle Archaeometrie Follow link to Fission-track dating (Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Heidelberg)

5.7. Luminescence dating

The physical phenomenon of luminescence may be used to date artefacts that were made from (or include) crystalline minerals which have been subjected to strong heating. The first successful application was to clay fired to make pottery, but it is commonly used now for dating flint tools that have been burnt, for example by being dropped accidentally into a fire.

* Forschungsstelle Archaeometrie Follow link to Luminescence (Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Heidelberg)

* Dating and Research Projects 'The laboratory has extensive experience of dating archaeological ceramics and burnt stones from sites in Scotland and overseas. The value of TL dating of such materials frequently lies in the association between the event being dated and an archaeologically important event in the development of the site. For example the last heating of a hearth stone dates the abandonment of a prehistoric settlement. More recently there has been a marked increase in interest in optical dating of sediments, with many groups within the Scottish Universities having application interests.' (Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, Luminescence Facilities)

* Luminescence dating 'Luminescence dating is a relatively new alternative approach to Quaternary chronological problems. Both quartz and feldspar rich sediments, which are otherwise undateable by conventional radiocarbon methods, can be absolutely dated within a range of 10 to 300,000+ years.' (Sheffield Centre for International Drylands Research)

* Palaeolithic tools from the surface of optically stimulated luminescence dated alluvial fan deposits of Pinjaur Dun in NW sub-Himalayas PDF file of a case-study: 'We therefore need to search for new evidence that may be available for working out a true chronology of the Sohan type tools and their sites, particularly in the absence of absolutely datable material. If in some cases, the absolute age of the surface on which some stone tools are found is known, it will certainly provide us with a lower limit to the date of fabrication/use of these tools.' (ANUJOT SINGH SONI, VIDWAN SINGH SONI, CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 88, NO. 6, 25 MARCH 2005)

5.8. Electron spin resonance (ESR)

Like thermoluminescence, ESR is a 'trapped charge' dating method, but it is applied to different kinds of samples, and the method of measurement is also different. ESR does not release trapped electrons, but subjects them to electromagnetic radiation in a magnetic field, which causes electrons to resonate and absorb electromagnetic power. The strength of resonance reflects the number of electrons that have become trapped since the crystals were formed.

* Forschungsstelle Archaeometrie Follow link to ESR (Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Heidelberg)

* Professor Rainer Grün: abstracts Insights into the application of ESR dating in archaeology can be gained from these summaries of works by a leading exponent; PDF files of some are available from his list of publications. (Research School of Earth Sciences at the Australian National University)

6. DERIVATIVE TECHNIQUES

Derivative methods may only be used for dating if their results can be related to a time-scale or reference curve that has been established by absolute dating methods. If it is not affected in any way by its environment the result can be described as absolute. In contrast, dating the change of one form of amino acid to another is derivative because the rate of alteration varies, and is heavily dependent on the temperature and humidity of the context where the sample has been buried.

6.1. Protein and amino acid diagenesis dating

Bones, teeth and shells contain proteins that break down after death, and the most commonly investigated products of decomposition are amino acids. Amino acid racemization dating (AAR) measures changes between these amino acids' L- and D-forms; their ratio is an indication of age.

* Amino Acid Racemization Dating in New Zealand: An Overview Large PDF file. AAR '...is used to determine relative dates of biological materials such as bone, shell and teeth and has been used in an archaeological context for over 30 years. During this time a number of significant results have been generated but many have been questioned and the technique remains controversial. In spite of this the possibility of reliable AAR dating is attractive. The technique potentially serves as an independent method for dating faunal material, which is useful in the context of providing support for chronometric information produced by other methods.' (Judith Robins, Martin Jones and Elizabeth Matisoo-Smith, Auckland University)

6.2. Obsidian hydration dating

Obsidian - a natural volcanic glass - was a popular alternative to flint for making flaked tools in many parts of the world. As soon as a fresh surface of obsidian is exposed, for example during the process of making it into a tool, a microscopically thin hydration rim begins to form as a result of the absorption of water.

* Introduction to Obsidian Hydration Studies 'Once a hydration layer has been measured, it can be used to determine the relative ages of items or, in some circumstances, can be converted into an estimated absolute age. In order to transform the hydration rim value to a calendar age, the rate of the diffusion of water into the glass must be determined or estimated. The hydration rate is typically established empirically through the calibration of measured samples recovered in association with materials whose cultural age is known or whose age can be radiometrically determined, usually through radiocarbon dating methods...' (Northwest Research Obsidian Studies Laboratory, Oregon; a number of lab reports and articles are available to download as PDF files)

6.3. Archaeomagnetic dating

The Earth's magnetic field undergoes continuous change. The position of magnetic North wanders around the North Pole, and even reverses completely to the South Pole for extended periods on a geological time-scale. From any reference point its position is measurable in terms of two components: movement up or down (inclination or 'dip') and from side to side (declination).

* Archaeomagnetism 'Archaeological materials that contain magnetic particles are kilns, pots, hearths and most sediments. Heating and cooling such materials (or depositing in air or water in the case of sediments) causes the geomagnetic field to be recorded by the magnetic particles present. This recorded magnetisation can be measured many years later and so give a date that is directly related to anthropogenic activity. The technique can be applied in the last 3000 years in the UK, however, it is not an independent method of dating and requires a reference curve to convert the magnetic direction measured into a date.' (Archaeomagnetic Dating Laboratory, Department of Archaeological Sciences, University of Bradford)

* Archaeomagnetic Analysis of a Roman(?) Kiln/Drying Oven, F159, Nosterfield Report on the application of this technique to an excavated structure in Yorkshire, England: ''A total of 13 samples of fired stone and 1 of fired clay were removed from F159 for the purpose of archaeomagnetic analysis and dating. Specimens were oriented in situ using the button method, combined with spirit levels and a sun compass. Demagnetisation tests showed that the magnetisation in the material is highly stable. The mean archaeomagnetic vector in the samples was compared with the UK Master Curve to suggest that last firing occurred in the date range 100-170A.D.' (© Archaeological Planning Consultancy Ltd)

7. THE AUTHENTICITY OF ARTEFACTS

When major museums buy items for their collections they become involved in expensive commercial dealings in the fine art market. The profits to be made encourage not only illicit plundering of ancient sites but skilful forgeries. Scientific dating techniques can provide reassurance; when what is needed is confirmation that an object is not a modern fake, rather than a precise date, full control of all the variables that affect accuracy is not necessary.

* Labor Ralf Kotalla 'Worldwide oldest private Laboratory for genuine Analyses': Thermoluminescence analysis for ceramics and cores of cast metalwork - especially to detect forgeries. Follow links to 'Analysis' and 'Articles'.

* Spectroscopic Dating and Classification of Wood PDF file: 'It is important to be able to detect the use of old wood for recently-made fakes. ... The surface layer of any wooden artefact has undergone chemical changes due to UV light and other environmental agents. Since spectroscopy is a chemical analysis, it can detect these differences. ... If an object is made of wood that is already old, both curves are nearly identical.' (Gottfried Matthaes, Wooden Artifacts Group).

Archaeological Discoveries and Recent Rock Art in East Kalimantan, Indonesia

2009-07-11T02:09:00.000-07:00

by Jean-Michel Chazine
CNRS-CREDO/MAP, Yogyakarta Conference 24-29 September 2005

Since 1992 a large amount of archaeological discoveries has been later gained. Being eventually and mostly involved into the survey of caves and rock shelters of East Kalimantan, a Franco-Indonesian team, has since regularly let merge some parts of the deep past of that archaeological blank area. Altogether more than 100 caves have been visited and checked, within which more than 30 contain totally unexpected and determinant Rock Art paintings.

During the last decade and more precisely, last 3 years, French and Indonesian archaeologists, assisted by cavers, have surveyed two main karstic areas, located, one North of Sangkulirang, the second Northwest of Sangatta.

These two large areas roughly spread over a 40 by 20 kms space each, appeared to be especially well enough geologically structured and rich concerning archaeological remains of all kinds. These large conic karsts, uplifted from tectonic pressure movements after the Myocene, some 60 millions years ago, have developed three geomorphological networks of cavities and galleries.

These superposed strata, located differently in the uplifted outcrops have proved to be dwelled and used differently along the time. At a broad level of description (see Chazine, 2005, for a more precise insight), the lower one has been usually used as common or daily dwelling places since oldest periods, i.e. before 10.000 years ago, at least, before the end of Pleistocene. It contains all the classical occupation remains: food remains (bones and shells), stone tools workshops with their waste piles, charcoals and fireplaces. Ceramics are often present from surface to the upper or latest levels (surface to minus 40 to 60cm), corresponding to post-Austronesian occupation phases. Within many of the adjacent cracks or crevices, funerary ceramics associated with human bones are neighbouring some late "Dayak" or similar cultural communities who have settled around in the vicinity and left their wooden mortuary coffin burials and displayed personal items.

An intermediate net of cavities, located between 50 to 150 m higher in the cliffs, has had various or composite uses. In a few cases, a punctual dwelling has happened, presenting the same occupation clues than the lower level. Nevertheless, the main use of these intermediate caves, cracks or dry rock shelters has been devoted towards succeeding funerary purposes.

There, a very large amount of earthen funerary urns presenting a large set of differenciated decorations had been regularly observed during 2001 to 2003 field sessions. During 2004' field session, while extending a new test pit in Keboboh caves complex, our colleagues Jatmiko and Udin have also unexpectedly unearthed two burials (Jatmiko et al., 2004). Once unveiled from surrounding deposits, they appeared to be in a flexed position, a feature which would correspond to a pre-Austronesian inhumation process.

The third level of cavities, practically located up to 300 m high, has not provided until now, any if almost no occupation remains but paintings. Some of these caves contain a totally specific Rock Art expression, which induces to interpret these places as having had a very specific function. We will see later in this paper, what kind of activities the particular isolation, remoteness and emptiness of these caves and rock shelters would have had in the pasts.

This natural stratigraphy which has been selectively exploited for cultural and precise goals, is one of the specificities observed in East Kalimantan's (inasmuch as Palawan's) karstic outcrops. The regularity of that distribution (29 positive cases upon a total of 32) makes it a noticeable landmark which local communities have themselves emphasied.

Amongst all dwelling and occupations remains largely found in the lowest, and -less frequently- in the median levels, comprising all kinds of lithic and bone remains (to be more precisely presented later in this paper), the earthen wares are bearing a large amount of directly readable data. As it is limited to the "Austronesian techno-culture" phase, starting around 3,500 years ago, it is too early to consider it as a general objective "leading fossil" or "chronological marker". Nevertheless, at least for East-Borneo prehistory, its main characteristics may be used for discriminating styles, periods, inasmuch as local firing processes.

Since our cooperative Franco-Indonesian program has started last 2003, implying excavations conducted in selected caves and rock shelters, findings of different kinds of earthen wares ceramics both on surface and within stratigraphied dwelling places layers, have enabled us to separate common and/or funerary items.

Broadly speaking, the display of motives and shapes of pots which have yet been sorted are very similar to those which had previously been excavated or collected in Sarawak, Sabah and even Palawan island and the North-Western part of South East island Asia. Some of them being directly similar to the basis reference "Sa Huynh-Kalanay style" analysed and proposed long ago by Pr. Solheim II (Solheim II 1964).

They show eventually not much difference with many of those which have been studied long time ago in Sarawak’, Brunei’ or Sabah’ sectors, by numerous and well known archaeologists (Harrisson, Solheim, Bellwood…,etc). In East Kalimantan, styles vary from the oldest periods (around 3,500 BP) to the most recent surviving influences (Iban or so-called communities), not older than 200 to 100 BP. Decorations vary from paddle and anvil technology using different cord, square carved, mat and granulated motives, to all the possible numerous incised decorations. Some cases
present also geometric excised designs or motives. Stamped features (including linear " grain rice-like" impressions) may also be combined within variable incised schemes. The incised motives comprise geometric, curvilinear and/or stenciled/stamped impressions. The use of specific tools, producing sinuous designs obtained from bivalves shells (cardium-like) which has been yet found only once in Sarawak (Solheim II & Tweedie, 1959), has been now also collected within two caves (Gua Tengkorak and Gua Keboboh) along the Marang river. Macro-observations show that the prints differ one from the other, indicating at least two different shells/tools and probably makers.

One amongst other cardium decorated sherds from G. Tangkorak and belonging obviously to the same pot, would be a part of a handle or prehension tag, in the shape of an animal figurine. They show a strong analogy with figurines which have been found in Lubang Angin (Datan, 1993).

Another zoomorphic figurine has just been found during our last fieldsession, a tiny and remote crack-roomy place named Gua Unak. It presents a composite feature: large horizontal ears-like protuberances and side wings or stumps. The remaining part shows that the figurine had a vertical axis of symmetry. The presence of a hole in the lower middle part, associated to the bent edge, would induce to interpret it as a probable lid handle. They should have been thus two or four located in opposite position.

A complementary screening of the small cavity using a 2-4mm mesh, has not provided any complementary part. Considering that the firing of the clay, being very poor and limited to the minimum rending the whole thus very breakable and damageable, it should have normally totally disappeared. Their extreme fragility would explain why these figurines seem to be very seldom yet in SEA (Cameron, 2005).

Within an increasing number of funerary jars checked along our previous and actual surveys, one very specific was discovered in a small adjacent crevice of Gua Kairim. Considering its huge size first, around 1 meter high and 50 cm for the lip diameter, added to the unusual large geometric curvilinear incised motives, it appears to be totally different from all others. Not only in Kaltim’s set, but even in the whole Borneo Island. It displays numerous variations of alternative indented surfaces yet totally unusual in the surveyed area. Its resemblance with Lapita style ceramic was surprising enough to induce to check it with specialised colleagues. Preliminary and first glance identification confirmed a characteristic late Lapita style expression (comm. pers. Noury, in 2004’ report).

Stressing later that possible clue, a double first "lapita-like" sherd, decorated with stamped dentate motives, came to be found in Gua Batu-Aji. Unfortunately located in sub-surface of midden deposits, it could not be dated nor included in any determining process. During the 2005' Liang Jon excavations, another sherd has been found, well embeded in a regular stratigraphy. Laying at minus 40cm within a stabilized occupation layer, that dentate decorated small sherd shows the characteristic stigma of the dentate tool. In that precise case, it is totally similar to some Fijian and New Caledonian samples (Lapita Conf., 2005). It would correspond to the same period as other early earthenware witnesses, and would be thus also synchronic. According to Noury, it would correspond also to the late Lapita
period/influence, around 2800 BP (comm. pers. May 2005). For R. Green (comm. pers. Aug. 2005), it would correspond to a retroverse effect, similar to the Bukit Tangkorak data found in Sabah, by Bellwood (1989), which happened 3200-3100 years ago.

2005 excavations in Liang Jon, based upon previous researches from 2003 and their promising results, have been centred mainly upon two enlarged test pits 1,5m x 1,5m, located on one row, between the two previous surveyed areas. One (A) has been dug until a depth of 3 m, without reaching yet the terminal rock basement, while the second (B) having encountered a burial, has been stopped after a 60 cm depth.
Both of them have provided a very large set of archaeological remains including stone tools and general middens comprising various faunal bone remains and shells of different sources. More interesting, they are also apparent in distinctly separated levels, some almost complete kits related to the preparation and use of red ochre. That late group of artefacts may be related not only to specific or funerary rituals, but possibly to the ornate caves located in the direct vicinity (200 to 500m). Sophisticated physical methods of comparison should thus be employed to compare the different coloured stuffs.

Once excavated, mainly under GH. Ferrie’s supervision, the skeleton, which appeared around 60cm depth, is lying in a straight elongated position, most of its bones being in apparent connexion. The left hand is applied upon the belly. The right one, although apparent on the right side of the ribs, seems, from the position of the elbow and the missing fore-arm, to have been somehow twisted backwards. But the most strange fact, is that there is no head but a stone in place. The upper part of that stone came to sight only after a circular line of stones containing charcoals and confirming the presence of a fire structure at the previous level, had been removed. The clearing of the skeleton, which was in process, let suppose that the head would have been bent backwards and covered by that late stone. Once removed, it became clear that the corpse had been beheaded. During the extension of the scraping of the layer, some parts of skull appeared, some 60 cm away, just at the foot of the cliff wall. The clearing of that conglomerate of skull pieces has shown that they were corresponding to at least two individuals, (and possibly three). Preliminary observation of the cervical vertebra and the occipital hole(s), has not shown any blow or cutting action tracks. It would thus indicate that the splitting of the head from the body has been done after death, once the decomposition of the corpse was already enough advanced.

The similarity of formal situation is particularly striking with the recent discoveries made in Vanuatu, by Spriggs and his team (Spriggs & al. 2005). There, they unearthed some 20 burials typically belonging to the Lapita period. Some of the skeletons had been beheaded –without provoking stroke wears- and moreover, their head having also been replaced by a stone. More interestingly, some bones have been deliberately taken away, and particularly some fore-arms… From the bio-anthropologists having studied the bones assemblages, they estimate that after one year, it becomes possible, without breaking the bones remaining connexion (pers. comm. Valentin, Lapita Conf. 2005). It implies nevertheless that the body having been buried after death, the head alone had to be unearthed, using then forcibly a location marker. The position of the feet assemblage, inasmuch as the arms and hands would indicate that the body had been toughly and completely wrapped in a mat or
at least with ties (ropes, bark or tapa stripes). Hardness and consistence of the ground has been observed during the excavation process, it appeared that the body had been buried in digging a hole not much larger than the corpse in the ground and later refilled, due to the difference of flat regularity in the deposits. The coincidence of the level from which the burial has been dug and the level of the occurrence of the "lapita-like" postsherd has to be noted. Although it would not constitute yet
a real acceptable proof, it is nevertheless a clue, which has to be kept in mind.

While awaiting C14 datation results for the Liang Jon excavations, that particuliarly significant occurence, should be added to the similarity with the large Lapita inspired funerary urn from Liang Kairim. That convergence would at first and primary approach, confirms, if definitively established, that circulation of cultural items related with the Lapita periods or influence phases, has been even larger than estimated previously. Limited until now to the NE part of Borneo, mainly thanks to Sabah's investigations (see Bellwood 1989), that influence would have extended also Southwards to East Kalimantan. The exchange and circulation process including cultural items, would they be physical : like obsidian from Talasea in New Britain (see Specht 1985), transported and found in NE Sabah, or symbolic like designs or myths, would probably include also some specific decorated ceramics. Wether only
lapita-like pots or their technology, has circulated, missing until now enough identified data, remains a yet unsolved question.

As a matter of fact, birth origins of "Lapita cultural complex" inspiration is still a question debated between scholars (see the numerous Lapita and IPPA Symposia held since the past decades). It broadly varies from Eastern to Western sides of New Guinea, and our late discovery is more precisely trending towards the Western origin or clustering area. Other sites from insular SEA have also provided somehow lapita-like ceramics, although not using the very specific dentate stamped technique.
Some of the most well known originate from Kalumpang area (Sulawesi) and Talaud islands, or even in and around Taiwan, have already been described by Bellwood (1997). The appearance of such ceramics in East Kalimantan, corresponding simply to the extension westwards of its possible influence, is just enlarging the probabilities area and does not present any contradiction with already established hypothesis.

The other important findings from 2005’ excavations (Gua Tebok and Liang Jon) are the numerous artefacts related to ochre uses, excavated between the upper levels and the lowest ones (2,5m deep). They comprise the complete set, from the large raw core (15cm in diameter), to the red wearings pestle, including core flakes, used pencils with wearing marks and flat to hollowed red surfaced anvils. Most of these late anvils are from calcitic-sandstone, whose provenance may be located precisely. They would come from the eastern side of the Gunung Marang itself, where sandstone
dots emerge from pure calcite deposits. It appears quite visibly intermixed in the cave named Gua "tanah lihat" (cave "where earth is visible"), at the bottom of the main cliff (see 2003' report). This complete assemblage of ochre implements, shows how its importance was noticeable. Although Gua Tebok and Liang Jon 2005’ excavations have both provided a remarkable set of ochre, Gua Tebok is presenting the advantage to contain some hand stencils (one of them right in the midle of the huge ceiling, 8m high). They may thus be with high probability directly related to them. That important use has had a lasting activity during a long lap of time because it appears in the different succeeding occupation layers. These late are still awaiting
datations sampling.

Although almost all kind of stone tools and their industry, including raw materials inasmuch as refuses, from upper until lower levels (minus 3m), no real significative change could yet be observed in lithic technology. Surface inasmuch as first 50 to 60 cm layers, which contain ceramics corresponding thus to the "Austronesian" techno-cultural phase, do not present other signature than medium to small flakes industry. Only one broken part of the cutting edge of a polished adze has yet been found during the 3 campaigns, indicating that the introduction and adoption of that new techno-cultural practice, carried by Austronesians, did not spread regularly inside all areas of Borneo. At a broad level of consideration, there is no main noticeable change in the stone tools assemblage. They are mostly flakes, whose statistical distributions appear to vary slightly. As already stressed by Julien Espagne (see 2003’ and 2004’ reports), the frequency of Kutai flakes remains
proportionally high, and lasts from buried ancient levels (yet radiocarbon undated) to sub-surface locations. Nevertheless, the main impression is confirmed that the “Pleistocene knapping technology” has lasted until very recent periods although ceramic technology was spread all over Kalimantan. It shows some seemingly contradiction concerning the acceptation or borrowing of foreign technics, by prehistoric hunter-gatherers. They have clearly conserved or adopted only what was corresponding to their needs and culturally agreeable.

A more precise description of lithic technology by J. Espagne, will appear besides, based upon his study yet in progress. The study of animal bones by HG. Ferrie being still at its beginning and in progress, only a first general draft of his preliminary interpretations is provided hereafter.

Primary and general observations concerning bone study
conducted by Jean-George Ferrié

Within the general frame of archaeological researches conducted in East Kalimantan, we have undertaken the study of faunic bones remains which have been discovered within some sites of the Marang river area.

That study has two main goals. First, it will allow to collect data concerning the different animal species, which were present in the surveyed area during different chronological phases, and to follow their evolution. Being accepted that the absence of one species in the archaeological frame would not mean its general lack in the natural environment: human communities being able to manage many choices within their accessible possibilities.

Second, as a main task, we should be able to bring out original data upon daily life of communities who have settled in this area. Thanks to a detailed taphonomic and
archaeological analyse of bone remains, it should be possible to reconstruct exploitation strategies of the natural environment managed by these populations. Once established for each site, synchronic and diachronic comparisons, for inter- and intra-locations will be performed, with the intention to search possible differences and evolutions in the managing of local animal resources.

A set of test-pits has been dug during the 2005' field session, on Gua Tebok, Liang Unak and Liang Jon sites. They have provided an important quantity of bone remains. The total weight overpasses practically 30 kg. Only Liang Jon and Gua Tebok have yet been submitted to a preliminary sorting and study. Most of the bones are highly fragmented, and depending of test-pits and layers, a large proportion of them is burnt. Within identified taxons, suidae, followed by turtles (mostly shell parts), then cervidae, constitute the main core. Some bones of primates and carnivores have also been identified in a lesser proportion in the different assemblages.

In the Test-pit B in Liang Jon, levels 24, 25 and 26 would differ from others, because of the majority proportion of cervidae. The proportion of suidae and turtles within these layers would be thus lower than cervidae, indicating an important change in the diet or food practices. These primary observations should be confirmed later with more precise observations.

The first sorting of bones has already let appear an important proportion of burnt bones. In Liang Jon, 36% of the total determined remains and 68% of undetermined fragments are burnt. These proportions are respectively 36% and 7 3% in Gua Tebok. If animals constitute an important diet resource, they are also providing an important raw material subside (long hard bones and deer antlers, inasmuch as skin and tendons). In Gua Tebok and Liang Jon, uses for non-dietary purposes have been identified thanks to the discovery of different bone points or needles.

A more detailed analyse is clearly necessary in the intention of establishing the taphonomic history of each assemblage and then in precising the acquisition and exploitation process for each species. These data will be tied and cris-crossed with those of other disciplines, the only procedure permitting to precisely describe the past way of life of the communities who have previously settled in this area. Equally important by their number inasmuch as by their contents are the ornate caves which have been discovered since 11 years in that area. Being established by now that the oldest representations are older than the end of Pleistocene (10.000 years BP), they constitute a determining core of the South East Asian prehistory.

Mainly characterized by a high number of negative hand prints, it shows also different manners of using not only combinations but also overpainted hand stencils. That late characteristic let it differs from all surrounding cultural expressions, and even of all worldwide examples. Its origins are not yet clearly established but analyses have proved to be dated from more than late Pleistocene (10.000 BP). Being unique in that part of the world, and presenting more links with its far neighbours from Australia, than with the closest islands (Sulawesi, Moluccas and Western New Guinea, mainly described by Kosasih, Setiawan, O’Connor, Delanghe & Arifin) this would induce to consider differently the settlement and cultural diffusion of Rock
Art in that large area. One new hypothesis would be that before the end of Pleistocene (10.000 years ago) and during its move towards Australia, a group would have settled –or escaped- in that remote area of East Kalimantan and locally kept that painting tradition and its former usages. The fact is that there is no apparent aesthetic, neither figurative link, between the rock art painted in these caves and any ethnographic "Dayak" style figurations.

Although the presumption of a specific "austronesian" origin has been proposed and would for many cases fit there with the local "prehistory of history", mainly in East Nusantara, by some scholars (Balard, 1992), that explanation does not match observations for East Kalimantan. The presence of a few general figures in some caves, presents some analogies, with some common symbolic "ideograms", in frequent use in South East Asia. For instance, the arborescent feature found in Gua Tewet linking a minimum of 7 differenciated negative hand prints, may evoke possibly the "tree of life" scheme. Another hypothesis is prefering the "visual language" approach and its logical interpretations, is supported by P. Setiawan, our everlasting global partner since 1995.

Apart that possible reference with some "Dayak" cultural expression, it would possibly also be perceptible in what seems to represent the large bees hive and the "honey tree" painted in Kerim cave. It is known from ethnography (Van Geddes, 1959, Hopes, 1997) that much respect was paid to any honey tree and a specific dance used to be performed by communities, after or against bad or difficult events or periods. Would these representations ("tree of life/honey tree") and customs (honey tree dance) pre-exist before the arrival of Austronesians, followed themselves later by generic Dayak cultures, is still a possible hypothesis. This late one, is forming the bulk of possible eventually consequences of the contacts between Pleistocene populations, long time settled in South East Asia. Samples from Niah or Tabon, show that peoples -Homo sapiens sapienswere already living there since 40 to 50.000 years, compared to newcomers like Austronesians, some 5.000 years ago only. What kind of exchanges or inter-influences have thus and then happened, and in which directions, is still a puzzling question, breeding discussions between specialists.
The investigations conducted in Gunung Marang cluster have began to nourish the gap of knowledge still remaining in that large area. Completing –or confronting- other data gathered not only in Eastern Kalimantan, but also the complete Eastern side of Island Borneo, archaeological results converging from all disciplines would provide a determining clue for interpreting the role that this precisely “in the between” location, would have played in the past.

Concerns towards its proper study but also its efficient protection should therefore be strongly linked for future generations. Note on the economico-cultural environment of the Gunung Marang Reserve situation (JM. Chazine/Kalimanthrope) The state of protection of that huge and determinant patrimony is eventually almost null. The burial sites and the painted caves, had remained until recent decades under a traditional and implicit protection. Local communities, mainly Dayak and their more slightly episodic Punan contacts were the only ones to settle within that area. Some caves had thus been devoted to keep funerary remains, jars for older times, and wooden coffins for more recent, like in Gua Lungun or Gua Tengkorak. The dramatic 1997’ hazes, have left nothing but charcoals from these wooden items. The whole area had anyway already been abandoned some decades ago, under common pressure of the Government and the logging companies attractive salaries. Only bird nest collectors, ancient residents or newcomers from the Transmigrasi process, were rovering from caves to caves. Pressure was not that much important, based upon a low and temporary mean human presence. Conditions and incomes produced by some caves has strongly increased and time length during which a new population remains on the spots has totally changed also. Being reduced from 45 days of minimal maturation, it has dropped down to 42 if not 40, decreasing dramatically the natural stock for reproduction. Bands of 6 to 10 men stay all the time near the caves to collect and protect the “goldmine” and consequently predate everything still living around. Large areas are now under a huge and almost wild threaten from free scavengers and logging gangs. Protection and information actions have now to be organised and coordinated, in accordance with the local authorities demands and intentions. Discoveries and findings already gained in that specific area are important enough to help settle local showroom and exhibitions actions for enhancing cultural awareness.

At another level, the groups exploiting the natural resources of these remote and desertified areas do not belong to the new created local culture, i.e. the " Kutai". A neologism which has the advantage to integrate as many people as needed, as long as they have been resident since enough time or generations. It permits also to include in a new generic, common and neutral term, Dayaks or assimilated communities and overpass the cultural complex of inferiority which has been and still is prevalent. A rather little number of "real new Kutai" are permanently involved in logging or forestry industries, inasmuch as bird nest collecting. They use to come there to get a harsh but speed, amount of money and behave just like simple or other predators. They do not feel any cultural, historical neither emotional link with those who have left the archaeological remains that archaeologists excavate and exhume from the ground and the caves. They have in no case their ancestors buried there and will never have. Thus cultural links between previous inhabitants and local authorities do not yet exist at all. Understanding and protection measures are totally foreign constraints for these new scavengers, inasmuch as there is no support for the Administration on the spot. That gap is not the smallest problem which has to be managed and solved to attempt to protect and maybe enhance the cultural consciousness of a morally and geographically distancied population.

Bibliography (quoted in the text only):

Balard, 1992: "Painted Rock Art sites in Western Melanesia: locational evidence for an "Austronesian" tradition", in J. McDonald & L.P. Haskovecs (eds.), Occas. AURA
papers 4, p.94-105.

Bellwood, 1988: "Archaeological research in South-Eastern Sabah". Sabah Mus. Monogr. 2.

Bellwood, 1997 (revised ed.): "Prehistory of Indo-Malaysian Archipelago". Univ. of Hawaii Press.

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East Asia and the Pacific". Lapita Conf. Tonga, Aug. 2005.

Chazine, 2000: " Découvertess de peintures rupestres à Bornéo", in " L'Anthropologie", 104, p.459-471.

Chazine, 2002: "Rock Art and ceramics in East Borneo: logical discovery or new cornerstone?", in "Pacific archaeology: Assessments and prospects", Sand (ed.), Noumea, p.43-52.

Chazine, 2005: "Rock Art, burials and habitations: caves in East Kalimantan", in Asian Perspectives, 44:2, p.219-230.

Chazine, 2005: "Ceramics from East Kalimantan and the Lapita connexion". Lapita Conf.
Tonga, Aug. 2005.

Chazine, Fage & Setiawan, 2002: "The Rock Art of Kalimantan in Indonesian Borneo", in
" Ligabue Magazine", Anno XXI, n°41, p.146-166.

Datan, 1993: "Excavations from G. Sireh and L. Angin". Sarawak Mus. Journal Vol XLV
n°66.

Delanghe & Arifin, 2004: Rock Art in West Papua, Paris, UNESCO.

Geddes, 1973: "Nine Dayak nights". Oxford University Press, New York.

Hopes, 1997: "Ilmu, magic and divination amongst the Benuaq and Tunjung Dayak", Puspa Swara & Rio Tinto Foundation, Jakarta.

Jatmiko, Nazruddin & Bambang, 2004: "Explorasi situs gua dan hunian Prasejarah di pegunungan Marang kabupaten Kutai Timur, Kalimantan Timur", Laporan Penilitian Arkeologi, Puslit Arkenas, Jakarta.

Kosasih, E.A, (1991) "Rock Art in Indonesia", in Bahn, P & Rosenfeld, A (eds), Rock Art and Prehistory:papers presented to Symposium G of the AURA Congress, Darwin,
1988, Oxbow Books, Monograph 10.

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the Western Pacific Region", in AP Vol.34, No 1, 2003.

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Progr Pasca Sarjana Antropologi, FISIP, UI, Depok.

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Sarawak Museum Journal 12 (25-26), p.1-62.

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Teouma site, central Vanuatu". Lapita Conf. Tonga, Aug. 2005.

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features". Lapita Conf. Tonga, Aug. 2005.

Cultural Landscape Heritage Management in Indonesia: An Archaeological Perspective

2009-07-10T08:22:00.000-07:00

by Daud Aris Tanudirjo
Jurusan Arkeologi, Fakultas Ilmu Budaya
Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta

Landscape has always been considered as an important aspect in giving meaning to an artefact or a site. It provides a condition by which archaeologists can contextualized their findings. Even in the end of 19th Century, a pioneer of field archaeology, General Pitt Rivers, has prompted the role of natural settings in archaeological explanation in the history of Archaeology (Thomas, 2001). Nevertheless, strange enough, in cultural resource management such a natural context is often neglected. This is partly because in the past archaeologists were concerned more on cultural remains. Though the natural setting of the cultural remains were admittedly important, it is still considered as natural rather than cultural. Hence, it was treated as different and separate entity.

It was not until a few decades ago that archaeologists realized that even the natural setting of an artifact or site is in fact a cultural remain. This has promoted a perspective which sees a landscape as a palimpsest of material traces from the past
or it is considered as "an assemblage of real world features – natural, seminatural,
and wholly artificial – which is available to us in the present" (see Thomas, 2001).
It is this new perspective that gives rise to landscape archaeology which is aimed at
recovering "the history of things that have been done to the land" (Thomas, 2001). Following this, archaeology is now moving from artefact - and site- oriented analysis to area - or region-oriented ones and the term "cultural landscape" is becoming more popular in this field of study.

Such a new archaeological understanding of landscape is well expressed in UNESCO’s formulation of a cultural landscape as follow (UNESCO, 2005) "Cultural landscapes are cultural properties and represent the combined works of nature and of man. They are illustrative of the evolution of human society and settlement over time, under the influence of the physical constraints and/or opportunities presented by their natural environment and of successive social, economic and cultural forces, both external and internal".

The development of cultural resource management in Indonesia seems to follow the above-mentioned general trend. Disseminated in a colonial millieu, Indonesian archaeology began with the private interest in antiques and ancient monuments. Therefore, their interest was in artefact, building, and sites. The first regulation on the management of heritage in Indonesia (then the Netherlands Indie), Monumenten Ordonnantie stbl 1931 demonstrates this view. It stated that the term heritage referred to man-made as well as natural remains and site. Such a formulation has been reproduced in the new legislation issued in 1992, Undang-Undang Republik Indonesia no. 5 tahun 1992 tentang Benda Cagar Budaya (The Law of the Republic of Indonesia No. 5 in the year 1992 on Cultural Property).

Though in those two legislation, it is stated that the surrounding area of the site should be protected, but such a statement was not underlaid by awareness of the cultural relation between the artefact or site and its environment. Rather, it was only for the sake of the safety of the cultural remains.

This shows that until the last decade, Indonesia still adopted an old stance in putting a landscape in the heritage management. Fortunately, recently there has been a paradigm shift in the heritage management in Indonesia which put pressure on the government to revise UU no. 5/1992 on Cultural Property. The declaration of Indonesian Charter on Heritage Conservation in 2003 should be appreciated as an important movement to speed up the revision. It is also in this charter that cultural
landscape was firstly and clearly declared as a significant heritage in Indonesia. The revised legislation on Cultural Property which is being processed in the Parliament asserts the protection of a region (kawasan) with culturally interrelated sites. It should be mentioned here, there has been another legislation that could be
used as a basis for cultural landscape heritage management : Undang-Undang Republik Indonesia Nomor 24 Tahun 1992 Tentang Penataan Ruang (Law of the Republic Indonesia no. 24 in the year 1992 on Spatial Arrangement) and also its implementation in Peraturan Pemerintah Republik Indonesia Nomor 47 Tahun 1997 (Government Regulation no. 47 in the year 1997). These legislations clearly stated that the government may proclaim a region with significant heritage as a protection area (kawasan lindung).

Regarding the cultural landscape of Borobudur, it is obvious that the surrounding areas of the World Heritage Monument were, and still are, an integral part of the monument. The landscape is an important aspect in understanding and appreciating the heritage. The new and convincing evidence on the occurrence of ancient lake in the vicinity of Borobudur strongly support this notion. Although it is not exactly like Nieuwenkamp’s imagination that Borobudur was a lotus in the centre of a pond, but it is quite obvious that the monument was built intentionally in lacustrine (lake) environment encircled by volcanoes and mountaineous region.

Actually, the need to protect the cultural landscape of Borobudur has been advised by leading Indonesian archaeologist, Prof. Dr. R. Soekmono, who also in charge of the restoration of the monument. Just before the official completion of Borobudur restoration in 1983, he suggested that Borobudur should remain in its authentic settings. He was afraid that many activities attracted by the monument would transform Borobudur area from rural into urban environment. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a proper plan for Borobudur landscape (Soekmono, 1983).

This idea was partly accomodated in JICA masterplan in which Borobudur area was divided into 5 zones as follows (see Winarni, 2007).

Zone I Zone for protection and prevention of destruction of the physical environment of the archaeological monuments.

Zone II Zone for provision of park facilities for the convenience of visitors and preservation of historical environment.

Zone III Zone for regulation of land use around the parks and preservation of the environment while controlling development in areas surrounding the parks.

Zone IV Zone for maintenance of historical scenery and prevention of destruction of the scenery.

Zone V Zone for undertaking archaeological surveys over a wide area and prevention of destruction of undiscovered archaeological monuments.

However, it is clear from what has happened so far, such a masterplan has never been properly followed up. Many of regulations stipulated in the masterplan have never been put in place. Law enforcement is very weak. This condition has triggered a prolonged conflict between the authrorities, private sectors, local communities, and even among local communities. As Soekmono predicted, Borobudur area is bccoming urban rather than rural. Surely, this situation will destroy the cultural landscape of Borobudur in the long run, if nothing is done to stop this on-going deteriorating process.

What should be done?

It is now timely to reconsider the policy in managing the Borobudur World Heritage. A new management strategy should be put in place and a proper management plan should be established. In doing so, we have to make use of momentous paradigm shift in heritage management in Indonesia.

Firstly, the management of Borobudur should be founded on the concept of Borobudur Cultural Landscape in which the main focus of the management is not the monument, Chandi Borobudur, but the whole surrounding area of Borobudur including the local communities and their culture. Following this, the management of this area should be an integral part of those of the larger region of surrounding regencies, such as Magelang, Sleman, Purworejo, and Kulon Progo. Without cooperative efforts from the government and local communities in those regencies, the cultural landscape of Borobudur which covers a very vast area of Kedu Basin could not be conserved.

Secondly, the management of Borobudur area shouldnot be based on the "archaeology in the service of the state" paradigm in which the government plays a central role in the management of heritage. Rather, it should follow the "public archaeology" paradigm. In the latter paradigm, heritage management is aimed at giving greater benefit to public at large. It means "Heritage for all".

Local authorities and communities should be given opportunities to take part in the planning of and carrying out the management of Borobudur, while the Central Government plays as the facilitator. This is commonly referred as partnership management (Taylor, 1994).

Thirdly, such a partisipatory management should provide choices for the local communities in response to the managament plan. These choices include participation with voluntarily principle, compensation, and insentive. The management should consist not only development plan but also development control Through those efforts, hopefully the cultural landscape of Borobudur could be conserved integrally : the built heritage, the local communities, the culture, and the environment.

References

Thomas, J. 2001. Archaeologies of Places and Landscapes, in I. Hodder (ed.), Archaeological Theory Today. Polity Press, Cambridge. Pp. 175-186

UNESCO. 2005. Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention.

Soekmono, R. 1983. Usaha Demi Usaha Menyelamatkan Candi Borobudur, in Menyingkap Tabir Misteri Borobudur. PT Taman Wisata Candi Borobudur dan Prambanan. Hlm. 6-17. This article was originally published in Sinar Harapan 17-02-1983)

Winarni. 2006. Kajian Perubahan Ruang Kawasan World Cultural Heritage Candi Borobudur. Thesis S2 pada Program Studi Magister Perencanaan Kota dan Daerah Jurusan Ilmu-ilmu Teknik Sekolah Pasca Sarjana Universitas Gadjah Mada Yogyakarta.

Taylor, G. 1994. Conservation techniques: nature conservation and countryside management, dalam R. Harrison (ed.), Manual of Heritage Management.
Butterford-Heinneman. Pp.191-201

Archaeology of the Flores Man Site: Liang Bua Cave, Indonesia

2009-07-09T05:11:00.000-07:00

By K. Kris Hirst

Liang Bua is located in the Wae Racang Valley on the western end of the tiny island of Flores in Indonesia. Liang Bua is the name of the karst limestone cave from which Flores Man (a.k.a. the Hobbit) was found. The stratified site deposits are 12 meters in depth, and within the deposits have been found both modern humans and the hominin remains somewhat controversially called "Homo floresiensis".

Liang Bua Cave Formation

The cave was created by karst action nearly 400,000 years ago, but evidence suggests that it was invisible from the surface until about 190,000 years ago. Homo erectus appears on Flores Island beginning 840,000 years ago. Homo sapiens first appeared in the region circa 55,000-35,000 years ago.

Liang Bua's Hominin Remains

Hominin remains recovered from the site include LB1 (the original Flores Man, dated ca 18,000 years old), and elements from eight other individuals (dated between 12,000 years and 95,000 years ago. Modern human skeletal remains recovered from Liang Bua are all within Holocene levels (i.e., within the past 11-12,000 years or so). None of the bones recovered from Pleistocene deposits in Liang Bua cave appear to be modern H. sapiens.

Artifact Assemblages at Liang Bua

The artifact assemblages from Liang Bua include a fairly sophisticated suite of stone tools attributed to H. floresiensis, particularly within a level dated to ca. 74,000 years ago (+14/-12 ka) that contains stone artifacts with evidence of hard-hammer stone tool production. Raw material for the stone tools was mostly volcanic glass, with some marine limestone. The reconstructed stone tool manufacturing process is similar to sites of the same age found throughout Southeast Asia: a combination of off-site production of large stone blanks and on-site blank reduction. These methods were used by all hominids in southeast Asia around at the time: H. erectus, H. sapiens, and (assuming Flores is a separate species) H. floresiensis.

Sources

Argue, Debbie, Denise Donlon, Colin Groves, and Richard Wright. 2007. Homo floresiensis: Microcephalic, pygmoid, Australopithecus, or Homo? Journal of Human Evolution 51(4):360-374.
Brown, Peter, T. Sutikna, M. J. Morwood, R. P. Soejono, Jatmiko, E. Wayhu Saptomo & Rokus Awe Due. 2004 A new small-bodied hominin from the Late Pleistocene of Flores, Indonesia. Nature 431:1056–1061
Morwood, Michael J. et el. 2004. Archaeology and age of a new hominin from Flores in eastern Indonesia. Nature 431:1087–1091
Morwood, Michael J., et al. 2005. Further evidence for small-bodied hominins from the Late Pleistocene of Flores, Indonesia. Nature 437:1012-1017.
Westaway, K.E., M.J. Morwood, R.G. Roberts, J.-x. Zhao, T. Sutikna, E.W. Saptomo and W.J. Rink. 2007. Establishing the time of initial human occupation of Liang Bua, western Flores, Indonesia. Quaternary Geochronology: in press

Fossil Finds of Flores Man, Indonesia

2009-07-08T11:48:00.000-07:00

By K. Kris Hirst

The scientific world was rocked by reports of the discovery of the preserved skeleton of a previously unknown hominin species in 2004. Tentatively named Homo floresiensis, or Flores Man, the hominin became known to the world press as the Little Lady of Flores or the Hobbit. Most of a female individual of Flores Man was discovered by a joint international research team led by R.P Soejono from the Indonesia Centre for Archaeology and Michael Morwood from the University of New England Armidale. The research team discovered Flores Man six meters deep within the deposits of the Liang Bua site, a limestone cave on the island of Flores in Indonesia. The hominin was very small in stature, no more than a meter in height and as small as those of the shortest human beings ever known, but the brain capacity of the creature was much smaller than in modern humans. Further, the form of the skull and lower skeleton suggested to Soejono, Morwood and colleagues that the Little Lady was a form of Homo erectus, and not Homo sapiens. Flores Man caused quite a stir, not the least because she appeared to have survived as recently as 18,000 years ago, far later than any other Homo erectus known on the planet.

H. floresiensis skull, Liang Bua Cave, Indonesia. (by Peter Brown)

The resultant furor over the original Flores Man findings brought a competing theory, not yet published, that the skeleton is of a microcephalic (diseased) modern human pygmy. Further problems developed when the skeletal material was damaged during analysis by another researcher.

Morwood and colleagues continued excavations in Liang Bua cave through 2004, and discovered partial remains of eight additional individuals, one a subadult. These new finds were reported in the journal Nature on October 13, 2005. The recovery of so many examples has allowed for a more complete consideration of the form of H. floresiensis as a group, rather than the single individual. All of the specimens (with the exception of the child) appear to have been about 1 meter in height. In general, the skull shape and body form are most similar to Homo erectus, but H. floresiensis has longer arms and a smaller brain capacity than H. erectus normally has, in fact closer to Australopithecus or gorilla than H. erectus. Recent investigations of the Dmanisi H. erectus fossils in Georgia and those at Olduvai in Kenya suggest that there was more diversity in H. erectus than has been previously identified, a fact surely epitomized here.

Comparison of mandibles from Laetoli Australopithecus afarensis LH4 and Homo floresiensis LB6. (by Nature)

Further information was also found about the behavior of the little hominin: butchered pygmy Stegodon (a primitive type of elephant) and Komodo dragon have been found at Liang Bua, as have clusters of fire-cracked rock and charred bone in levels containing H. floresiensis skeletal materials, suggesting the hominin knew how to control fire. Stone tools recovered from the site evidence a sophisticated grasp of lithic knapping.

Homo floresiensis (Liang Bua Cave, Indonesia) and a modern human skull. (by Peter Brown)

The late date of the appearance of H. floresiensis is also confirmed. Using thermo-luminescence dating of the strata in which the skeletons lie, the oldest appear to have been dated to about 94,000 years ago, and the most recent 12,000 years ago. None of these materials are fossilized, and DNA testing and radiocarbon dating of the hominid skeletons themselves does not seem to be possible, given the condition of the material. Morwood hopes that additional skeletal materials may allow these forms of testing.

Whatever species the little hominin is, Homo erectus or something quite different, they are certainly not human. The appearance of a different hominin species dated to 12,000 years ago is quite remarkable, given that the last known Homo erectus found to have been living on planet earth died out about 120,000 years ago; and the most recent Neanderthal form of Homo sapiens was gone by 28,000 years ago.

Sources and Furthern information

Read the latest information about the Flores individual: Is Flores a Deformed Homo sapiens?
Lieberman, Daniel E. 2005 Further fossil finds from Flores. Nature 437(October 13, 2005):957-958.
Morwood, M. J., et al. 2004 Archaeology and age of a new hominin from Flores in eastern Indonesia. Nature 431:1087-1091.
Morwood, Michael J., et al. 2005 Further evidence for small-bodied hominins from the Late Pleistocene of Flores, Indonesia. Nature 437(13 October 2005):1012-1017.

The Italian Archaeological Expedition in the Sudan 2007 (by Torino University)

2009-07-05T05:03:00.000-07:00

Since 1970 the Italian archaeological activities in the Sudan have been sponsored by Rome University "La Sapienza", since this institution was at the time the only university in Italy to have a chair of Egyptology and to be interested in fieldwork in the Sudan. A few years ago, however, the Faculty which hosted the chair of Egyptology, along with other remarkable subjects engaged in Africa and the Near East, diversified its objectives. Eventually the chair of Egyptology was suspended, after the Director of its expedition in the Sudan, Prof. Alessandro Roccati, was appointed to a newly created chair of Egyptology at the University of Torino, thus allowing him to resume and maintain the fieldwork in the Sudan on behalf of the Centro ricerche archeologiche e scavi di Torino (CRAST) and to continue the research in the archaeological area of Jebel Barkal and to ensure the continuation of the team's activities. Otherwise a long period of experience and training would have been lost. This ensures that the present mission is the legitimate offspring of the preceding one and rooted in the same place – as it was already announced at the recent Warsaw Conference. On the one hand it was at Rome that the Tenth International Conference of the Society of Nubian Studies was held in 2002, and on the other hand it was at Torino that the International Exhibition of Nubian archaeology was displayed in 1999: both of them for the first time in Italy, and both of them under the responsibility of Prof. Alessandro Roccati. Furthermore we need not underline the importance borne for the study of ancient Egypt by the research on the Nile civilisations farther South.

Funds for the mission were granted by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Centro Scavi of Torino. The team was composed of some already familiar participants: Prof. Alessandro Roccati (Torino University, head of the mission), Dr. Roberto Gozzoli (Torino University, historian), Dr. Grazyna Bakowska (Rzeszow University, Poland, archaeologist): and three newcomers to the Sudan, all of them trainees from the School of specialisation in Oriental Archaeology of Rome University "La Sapienza": Dr. Claudia Micari, Dr. Massimiliano Nuzzolo and Dr. Roberta Petrilli. They ensured the necessary backing for survey and documentation. The official appointed by the NCAM was Mr. Murtada Bushara Mohammed.

It must be stressed that the objective of our university mission is not only the acquisition of new results but also the training of young people. Teaching is as much as part of fieldwork as the exploration of an ancient site.

Actually the present campaign is the sequel of the fieldwork carried out between 26th November and 23rd December 2006 on account of our Mission, by a team of geologists led by Prof. Giorgio Martinotti of Torino University, who executed a surveying in the archaeological area of the Mission's excavations at Jebel Barkal. They were assisted by Dr. Grazyna Bakowska (Rzeszow University, Poland) and Dr. Maria Novella Sordi (trainee in the School of specialisation in Oriental Archaeology of Rome University "La Sapienza"), who also tried out the study of ceramics.

Our stay lasted from 12th February till 2nd March 2007, and our activity concentrated in the building labelled B2400 lying near the (ancient) road, while further exploration of the palace B1500 was reserved as a spare activity. In fact, although the main road has meanwhile been moved across the desert and it is no longer a threat to the archaeological area, we wanted to achieve the knowledge of a rather interesting structure we came across during a protective operation of the monuments. Owing to a thin layer of rubble covering the floor, and the reduced surface of B2400, we aimed at getting a general layout of its structures within the limited time span at our disposal.

This building arose on a square platform, but it had become completely invisible on the ground, so to be traversed twice in recent years by the enclosure wall around the antiquities area built by the NCAM (which one day should be removed). Its special interest was awakened by some remains of a Greek architecture standing on it (more pieces were found this year), which may provide a terminus post quem for its dating. However, it was already overlaid in the antiquity by a well paved road in North-South direction, which points to a rather early destruction. Its lack of particular decorations (the walls were not plastered nor painted), its coarse entrance (the only one hitherto clearly detected is from the West) plead for an earlier date with reference to B1500 (the so called "Natakamani's palace"). However some typical potsherds and vessels show that the area was in use during the Meroitic period. A small fragment of pottery carved with some Meroitic signs found this year provides even inscriptional evidence.

One main achievement of this year's digging has been the discovery of a rather well preserved access from the North, in line with what was interpreted as a central court followed by a peristyle court. The much decayed condition of what was expected to be an eastern entrance has now been related to the creation of the paved road, which would have rendered such a passage devoid of use. This observation raises the question of a possible contemporariness of this paved road with the building of a Greek architecture – behind which, to the South, no passageway existed according to a careful search made in a previous campaign.

If these conclusions could be maintained, in view of the basic destruction of everything over the platform, we should consider the possibility that the platform was conceived for an earlier building. That building was later completely dismantled, so as to leave barely the platform in order to host some peculiar architecture, such as a Greek edifice. Nevertheless this older building can only belong to the (early) Meroitic period, due to its construction features, with outer walls lined with red bricks. A new mapping of the area by means of a satellite photograph points out also a parallel location with B100, another building likewise from the (early?) Meroitic period, which was excavated by Reisner in 1916. We owe the copies of Reisner's journal to the kindness of Prof. Timothy Kendall, who has already cooperated with our Mission on more than one occasion.

The new access, which was cleared to the North of B2400 is smaller than the one found on the western side, and it shows a (smaller) terrace abutting the middle of that side, ending in a short ramp perpendicular to the palace's wall, at the end of which a stone threshold lay. These features imply that this entrance was also roofed.

Although some of these features – three entrances of different size in the middle of every side of the platform - are shared by the more recent B1500 (Natakamani's palace), currently dated to the middle of the first century A.D., the latter stands out for its central and imposing position in the front of the sacred mountain. This building was much more elaborated and had equal access staircases instead of ramps. The staircase on its western side, however, was not visible from the plain and was not perpendicular to the palace's wall: it descended next to the wall in direction of B500 (Amun temple).

In B2400 the apparent parallelism between its access from the North and the close by paved road is to be stressed. At any rate, the main access - already of the former building - seems to have been the one to the West, namely the one looking towards the Palace of Natakamani. We expect to reach some better understanding of the entire layout through the tracing of (foundation) walls, which were duly recorded. Some soundings showed that the original floor next to the palace's outer wall looked like a pebbly ground.

The excavations were accompanied by the careful choice and documentation of ceramics uncovered in the different sites where the Italian Mission has been operating at Jebel Barkal. The material has been collected for several years, and at present we are organising a team for its encoding by means of informatisation. Sound results will require a longer time of study and comparison. However a provisional evaluation of forms and painted patterns refers to a period from the second century B.C. to the first century A.D. and possibly later, at least with reference to corresponding evidence from Meroe. Two reversed jars, still with their original contents of bones and some burnt material, were buried in the ground beside the eastern red brick wall closing the middle court and a mud brick wall bordering the paved road. Their location was next to each extremity, i.e. respectively South and North, of the wall.

When we arrived, we found that some heavy storms of last year had broadly damaged many restorations carried out in the excavated buildings, and these needed a number of repairs. These were operated as a by-work of the Mission also thanks to the kind collaboration of the appointed Official, Mr. Murtada. Some workmen of ours gave also a hand to cut the bushes invading the archaeological area in front of the Museum.

Finally we must assess that the friendly mood affecting the relations with the Sudanese Authorities as well as with the local people, either workmen or neighbours, has much contributed to ensure a good result of a difficult enterprise in a rather short time. May they all receive the heartily felt thanks of our entire team.

LA MISSIONE ARCHEOLOGICA IN SUDAN

Appendix: report on pottery examined

The pottery examined was found during the 2004-2007 seasons, during which two structures were being uncovered – named as B2400 and B2200.

B2200
Within the B2200 building there were mostly wheel-made ceramic pieces, some fragments of handmade ceramics were also found. About 6-7% of all finds were decorated sherds, mostly painted; less frequently they were some incised and stamped. The majority of the sherds were dated between 2nd century BC and 1st century AD.

Forms:
Fragments of cups, bowls, plates, saucers, stoppers, lids, beer jars, globular jars, pots, vases, bottles, amphorae, oil lamp, bread moulds and burners.

Motifs:
Offering-table, Hathor's emblem, rosette, ankh-sing, lotus-flower, upright leaves, connected circles, palm-branch, vine wreath, trefoil, twisted cord guilloche, stars, triangular geometric motifs, striped style.

B2400
Pottery sherds found enclosed in the building walls and floors, and other fragments spread throughout the surroundings of the building itself could be dated to the Meroitic Period (some ceramics can be dated between 2nd and 1st century BC, while other pottery in this case out of context could be dated between 1st and 3rd century AD). Moreover, some forms seem to go back to the Napatan Period.

There were wheel made and handmade ceramics pieces. In comparison with the B2200 structure there were very few painted ceramics, while incised and impressed pottery was predominant.

Forms:
Fragments of cups, bowls, dishes/plate, saucers, stoppers, lids, storage jars, globular jars, pots, basins, vases, amphorae, bread mould, klepsydrai.

Motifs:
Human figure, Lion (Apedemak), bird, ankh-sign, vine wreath, rosette, criss-cross.

Underwater Archaeology: Excavations in Viet Nam

2009-06-09T05:35:00.000-07:00

By Dr. Nguyen Dinh Chien (Chief Curator of National Museum of Vietnamese History-Ha Noi)

During the last decade of the 20th century, there were several ancient wrecks that were found in Viet Nam. Among those, the following five wrecks surveys and recoveries are especially remarkable.

I. Five ancient shipwrecks excavated in the sea of Vietnam.

1. Vung Tau ancient wrecks (1690)

In June 1990, the wreck Vung Tau, which was approximate to 15 km far from the Hon Cau Island at 40 m depth water beneath the sand of 0.6m to 1.0 m was recovered. Viet Nam Salvage Corporation (Visal) was licensed to collaborate with the Swedish Company Hallstrom Holdings Oceanic using the America driving equipment and divers from America, British, Canada, Viet Nam to recover the wreck. Until July 1991, the recovery was finished. The wrecks of 32.71m long and approximately 9m wide was measured and drawn by the divers. Thousand of artifacts were recovered from the wreck. Most of them were Chinese porcelains dated back to 1690 (1). The key archaeologist who participated during the projects was an Australian, Mr. Michael Flecker.

2. Hon Dam ancient wreck (15th century)

In May 1991, the wreck in Hon Dam – Phu Quoc Island (Kien Giang province) was recovered. This was ancient wreck which Jeremy and Rosemary Harper mention in seminar on porcelain held in Hong Kong in 1978 (2).

Visal recovered the wreck base on its experiences accumulated from the Vung Tau wreck project. The wreck lied at the over 40m depth. Some parts of the wreck were burried under approximate 2m sand. It was measured at about 30m long and 7m wide. The artifacts above the surface of the wreck were curdled in big blocks by oyster. There were about 16.000 pieces of celadon and brown porcelains recovered in the wreck. The most special ones were the port shaped bowls with segmented open rim of 38cm diameter and weighted 03kg. The specialists assumed that those porcelains were made by the Sawankhalok’s Kiln (Thailand) in the 15th century (3). The recovery was participated by the Vietnamese divers and two key archaeologists Michael Flecker (Australian) and Warren Blake (New Zealand).

3. Cu Lao Cham ancient wreck (15th century)

From May 1997 to July 1999, the wreck in the sea of Cu Lao Cham Island (Hoi An – Quang Nam province) was surveyed and archaeologically excavated. The wreck at the 70-72 m deep. The National Museum of Vietnamese History, Visal and Saga Horison (Malaysia) were performed the excavation. The Chairman of the Excavation Committee is Dr. Pham Quoc Quan, Director of the National Museum of Vietnamese History. There were also many archaeologists from Oxford University (England), Kebangsan University (Malaysia), Czechoslovakia and many divers and crew from Viet Nam, Malaysia, England, Indonesia, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand... The excavation showed tracks of a wreck of 29.4 m and 7.2m wide with 19 berth and spaces. Wood of wreck hull was fairly good. Some tenons on some bulkhead beams were still quite firm. Over two hundred thousand artifacts were recovered in the wreck . Most of them were made in Chu Dau – Hai Duong province – Vietnam in the 15th century.

Besides, this excavation was attended by foreign saturation divers and Director of Operation is Mr. Ong Soo Hin – Director of Saga Horizon and the Bound Mensun – The Director of the Archaeology who is the Director of the Marine Research Department of London University Oxford – England.

4. Ca Mau ancient wreck (1723 – 1725)

From August 1998 to October 1999, the National Museum of Vietnamese History, Visal and Museum of Ca Mau performed the archaeological excavation of the wreck in Ca Mau . The Chairman of the Excavation Committee is Dr. Nguyen Dinh Chien- Chief Curator of the National Museum of Vietnamese history.The excavation was headed by the archaeologists of the National Museum of Vietnamese history through diving operation of Visal’s divers who have an international certificates 3.I.U. The wreck was in the sea depth of 36 m with some obscure tracks of 24m long and about 8m wide. More 60 thousands of artifacts were recovered. Most of them were blue and white glaze porcelains and multicolor painted glazed ones and were made in China. Inscriptions in blue on the base of some bowls and cups indicates that they were made during the Yongzheng reign (1723–1725). The project had been especially done by only Vietnamese divers under supervision of the Vietnamese archaeologists. In 2002, the excavation result was reported in the book with title “ The Ca Mau Shipwreck- 1723- 1735” .(4)

5. Binh Thuan ancient wreck ( 16th – 17th century)

From 2001 to 2002, the wreck in the sea of Binh Thuan province was surveyed and archaeologically excavated. The National Museum of Vietnamese history and Visal performed the excavation. The chairman of the Excavation Committee is Dr.Nguyen Dinh Chien, Chief Curator of National Museum of Vietnamese History. The excavation showed tracks of a wreck of 23.4 m long and 7.2 m wide with 25 berths and spaces. Over 60 thousands of artifacts were recovered. Most of them were blue and white glaze porcelains and multi-colour painted glazed ones and were made in China. Origin of goods carried on board the ship from Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province; Dehua kiln complex, Fujian province and Guangzhou kiln complex, Guangdong province.

The ship and cargo are dated to the late 16th to early 17th century, the same of Wanli reign of late Ming dynasty. The excavation results were noticed in the scientific report by Dr. Nguyen Dinh Chien and Dr. Michael Flecker.(5)

II. Some experience in excavating and handling the artifacts of ancient shipwrecks.

1. Pre-excavation:

Most of the wrecks were accidentally found by fishermen while fishing. Therefore, it is needed to have further proper surveys to clarify the nature of the wrecks. Then to complete the relevant procedures as well as to arrange the excavating equipment.

• Arranging the personnel for the project as archaeologist, divers, conservators logisticts, guards of the site…

• Close circus television including diving masks KMB, underwater communications, diving control and video.

• Grids and sticks to set on the surface of the wreck.

• Space and instruments to wash the artifacts from sand and mud; package to transfer artifacts to the storages on shore.

• Form for analysis, statisticts of the recovered artifacts.

• Spaces and instruments for conservation, desalination, restoration and making scientific archives of recovered artifacts, which must be well treated numbered before taking the final classification. All artifacts data will be computerized under management and administration softwares.

2. Process of the underwater archaeological excavation:

• After the arrival of the means, which carrying personnel and equipment for the excavation at the site, the means will anchor over the wreck position. Based on the diving report the archaeologists will set up a core line as an azimuth for coordinates by connecting some visible parts of the wrecks such as beams, masts…Then the perpendicular aluminum grids with each side of 02 m long will be fixed above the wreck and having sides parallel to the core line and marked by rags.

• The excavation operation will be routinely arranged between the archaeologists and divers. Through the close circus camera with masks KMB 17 and the underwater communications, the diver masters will help archaeologists in the Excavation Committee to supervise and check up on the drives for the effect of air lists or the recovery of artifacts.

• At the depth of 35-40 m, we apply the air surface supply diving method. At the sea level below 4-5, every day we can operate 6-7 diving shifts, each two divers. The total diving time of one shift is 45 minutes (including time for decompression). Every diving shift will be followed up by log books with the video to their activities.

• The archaeologists will supervise the excavation through the monitors, to note what happening underwater and on board, especially concentrating on the drafting draws of divers, discussing and deciding which grid will excavated next.

• After the artifacts being pick up and put to baskets and lifted up, the archaeologists will initially classify and pack artifacts in the rubber baskets, which numbered and covered by nylon nets. Those baskets then will be put in to the sea water tanks waiting for transferring to the storages on shore or to the archaeologists barges. The delivery of these baskets must enclose the artifacts forms for the following up and statistics of artifacts in each grid, with name of divers, diving shift, date, people making notes and description.

• The sea usually has big swell at the sea level of 4-5 at the depth of 72 m in April 1999; we applied the saturation diving method. Following to this way, there were 2 shifts, 11 hours a shift (working time of 22 hours a day). The divers get up the grids, using air lifts, recovering the artifacts, putting into numbered rubber baskets and to the big steel baskets which could contain thousands of artifacts. Then the crane lifted up the steel basket to the barge. The archaeologists and workers washed the artifacts and numbered them and then put them in to the plastic tanks which were numbered too. The artifacts of each type were chosen and numbered, taken photograph, technically drown. With the recovery, the recording and drawing of the site were also undertaken usually.

3. Onshore post excavation

Big tanks or rubber tanks with fresh water were used to contain the artifacts for a number of days. Then the water was checked by the solution AgNO3, HNO3 and the desalinated equipment. When the saltiness was finished, artifacts were dried. Then the conservators recorded the result using the form NO6/TCCM.

• Chipped artifacts after begging put in the separate nylon bags, they were washed, cleaned and then restored by clue UHU or PVA. The separated parts of artifacts needed to be restored (boxes of two parts, kettle with lid and spout, handle...)

• The artifacts in the baskets after had been treated and completed the desallation were classified, numbered and noted in the following forms:
B4/TCCM: Condition form.
B5/TCCM: Dimension and photograph form.
B6/TCCM: Conservation form.
B7/TCCM: Artifacts (see annex) data sheet.

• Took photographs and technical drawing of the shapes and design of artifacts...

• The computerization of the data from the above forms with photographs and technical drawing help the archaeologists to recognize the disposition and the density of artifacts and the situation of the site. Based on the above mentioned matters, the archaeologists will answer the questions related to the wrecks such as dating back of the wreck, ship-owner art value…

• From the study result of the wreck, the archaeologists will make a scientific report with full of drawings of the site, typical kinds, ornamental objects, designs of decorations, video tapes of the survey and excavation. It will then be promulgated as a studying book and exhibited.

* *
*

Viet Nam is a country of over 3,000 km shoreline, lying on the international trading marine road. Form the early day, Vietnam created an economy and culture liaison with the other countries in the world. Underwater archaeological excavations in Vietnam through above five projects could be considered as the potential initial steps. Even though this work is new with our archaeological activities, but we have a lot of chances to share our underwater archaeological excavation experience with other countries. The recent excavations have proved the successful co-operation between us with organizations and specialists in the world for Vietnamese underwater archaeology.

The five ancient wrecks in Vietnam were archeologically excavated, specially the wrecks at Cu Lao Cham, Ca Mau and Binh Thuan. This will contribute more information to study process of the international marine road as well as the trading liaison at Vietnamese sea during the past centuries.

Note:
(1). Christie’s Vung Tau Cargo, Amsterdam 1992. Nguyen Quoc Hung: Excavation of the Antique Treasure at the Sea Bottom Hon Cau (Vung Tau) – Archaeology Magazine Issue N03 – 1992 (page 62- 73).
(2). M. Roxanna Brown. The ceramic of South East Asia. Their Dating and Identification – Kualalumpur, Oxford University Express, 1997.
(3). Pham Quoc Quan and Nguyen Quoc Hung: Thai Ceramics at the Wreck in Phu Quoc- Kien Giang. Culture and Art Study Magazine Issue N01 (108) – 1993 (page 66- 67)
(4). Nguyen Dinh Chien: The Camau Shipwreck 1723 – 1735. Hanoi, 2002.
(5). Nguyen Dinh Chien and Michael Flecker: The Scientific Report on Binh Thuan Shipwrecks. Ha Noi, 2003.

Archaeology Site 2008: Elliot Park Neighborhood

2009-06-02T01:52:00.000-07:00

Part of the yearly Elliot Park Neighborhood Archaeology Project, this site is located at 722-724 East 17th Street, just north of the I-35W/I-94 interchange. The 5 day dig is Aug 13th to 17th.

Site History

Journal Entries

Day 1 - Wednesday, August 13th 2008
Work began with about 27 volunteers digging 11 shovel tests of various depths. Artifacts that were found are normal domestic debris which include: clinker, coal, and various forms of broken glass. Towards the end of the day, two 1-squared meter excavation sites were opened. In one of the excavation sites, remnants of animal bone were found. Some of these bones, which probably belong to a goat or sheep, have butcher cuts on them.

Day 2 - Thursday, August 14th 2008
We had visitors and helpers from the Benedictine Health Center and a kids summer programs today. A few more shovel tests were done and another 1-meter-squared excavation site was opened. Site 1 found a large trash pit as well as remains of a large fish that someone must have buried after filleting. Site 2 found a few marbles, a jack, and a 14k gold button. Domestic remains were the most prominent of finds at sites 3 and 4. Among the 4 excavation sites, we have seen at least 8 separate soil layers, indicating that much of it was deposited. If there was farm use or Native American activities, it would show up about 65cm (2 feet) below the current ground level.

Day 3 - Friday, August 15th 2008
About 30 volunteers showed up to help with excavations today. Work continued on four excavation sites and a fifth one was opened. Site 1, discovered another trash pit below yesterdays pit. It was indicated by red soil and ash. At site 4, remnants of a board walk indicated by a series of nails and a soil stains, which indicate wood, were found. Other finds include more marbles, clay flower pots, ceramic bits, and a few metal bits such as a drawer handle and snapper were found. We have not seen as much animal remains as we were expecting in the beginning of the project. Tomorrow, several sites expect to break the original ground level, at about 2 feet below ground.

Day 4 - Saturday August 16th, 2008
Several of the excavation units broke through the level the soil was before the house was built. Artifacts relating to the consturction of the house were found, this included items such as plaster spills and square-head nails. Also, in these pits, a piece of glass from a bottle of old patent medicine, with the letters BL embossed on it was found. These are usually rectangular bottles with the name of the medicine or the makers of the medicine embossed on the bottle. In unit 1, what we thought was a trash pit, turned out to be a thin layer of burned material on the yard. We opened the last unit for excavation today, it is also our western most unit now. Tomorrow we will work on finishing excavation of the units and drawing profiles of the stratigraphy of the units.

Day 5 - Sunday August 17th, 2008
Today, unfortunatly, marked our last day on the site. While most unit dug in the morning, we had to wrap up around midday to ensure we would get clean up done. It was also a day of not many finds, since we broke through the original ground. The earth we reached was undisturbed during construction of the house, and was intact after many centuries. Unit 2 found two pits inside their site, however, they had to wrap up so the purpose of the pits as well as the complete depth is unknown. The wrap up procedure consited of carefully making profile drawings of each of the stratigraphies as well as figuring out the color of the soil according to the Munsell Chart. After the mapping of each unit was complete soil was shoveled back into the pit.

Day by Day Project Breakdown

Wednesday and Thursday -- Site Preparation
Out work on Wednesday and Thursday will be to get the site ready for excavation. We will survey in an excavation grid -- an imaginary grid of one-meter squares, used for guiding excavation and mapping. We will be placing portable fencing along the edges of the lot. There will also be some preliminary mapping and photography. Equipment and supplies will be brought to the site. As time allows, we will also begin excavation of a couple 1 x 1 meter units, probably on Thursday afternoon.

Friday and Saturday -- Excavation
On Friday and Saturday, we will do the bulk of the actual excavation. Excavators will work in teams that include an archaeologist, one or more archaeology students or experienced volunteers, and community volunteers. Each team will work on excavating a particular 1 x 1 meter unit, or a feature such as a utility trench, artifact concentration, cistern, or privy pit. This will involve digging with both a shovel and a trowel (the archaeologist's standard digging tools), and also screening all soil that is excavated in order to maximize recovery of artifacts. Other volunteers will also help with the screening. Volunteers can also help with note taking and drawing sketch maps of excavation units.

On these days we will also need volunteers to staff a sign-in and information table, and to guide tours of public visitors. Guides will be provided with information on basic archaeological techniques, and on the history of the site. Some volunteers will also be needed for helping with miscellaneous tasks and running last minute errands.
On these days there will also be volunteers working on jobs like mapping and photography.

Sunday -- Loose Ends and Clean Up
On Sunday we will be finishing up excavation that couldn't be finished on Friday and Saturday, and the accompanying tasks like mapping and photography. We will clean field equipment and get it ready to return. We will make sure that all the records and artifacts are in order -- that they are complete, correctly labeled, and so on. We will backfill all excavated areas, remove grid stakes, and move fencing as needed.

Hours
The general hours will be from about 9:00 am to 5:00 pm on the days of the excavation. You are welcome to volunteer for as few or as many hours as you like. It is helpful if we know when you plan on being at the site --by day and by morning or afternoon. This helps us with planning so we can make things run as smoothly as possible. Of course you're always free to change your mind.

What to bring and what to expect
If you are going to help excavate, plan on getting dirty. Wear clothes and shoes that can get dirty too. You may want to bring gloves and a gardener's pad to kneel on. It wouldn't hurt to bring coffee, water, iced tea or something else to quench your thirst, although we'll try to have plenty of water on hand for volunteers. Sun screen is a good idea, as is a handkerchief or something similar to wipe the sweat from your eyes. A hat can be helpful for shading your face from the sun. Feel free to bring your camera if you like. You may also want to bring lunch or a snack.
Archaeology involves all kinds of tasks. Some are delicate, painstaking and take a fair bit of patience. Some are hard physical work. You will get to observe and try your hand at a variety of tasks, based on your interests and abilities. Hopefully you will find the whole process interesting and rewarding. The archaeologists volunteering on the project will instruct you on the how and why of archaeological methods, so don't be afraid to ask questions.

Address:	722 17th Street E
Neighborhood/s:	Elliot Park, Minneapolis, Minnesota
City/locality- State/province	Minneapolis, Minnesota
County- State/province:	Hennepin County, Minnesota
State/province:	Minnesota
Country:	United States
Year Established:	1893
Founded by:	D.R. Wagner
Historic Function:	Housing development
Current Function:	Historic site

Archaeological Site Information

Archaeological Site ID Number:	XXXXX
Start Date of Fieldwork:	August 13, 2008
Site Features:	earthwork
Site Description:	artifact scatter
Site Landuse:	residential
Degree of Disturbance:	heavy
Current Threats to Site:	development

The Archaeological Finds in the Yorkshire Dales

2009-06-01T01:22:00.000-07:00

Introduction

Digging as a means of discovering new caves is a well established practice in the karst of the Yorkshire Dales (the area I am most familiar with) and other areas. This can be either digging from surface karst features in the hope of entering passages below, or trying to extend known cave passages by digging through blockages. The scale of some of the digging operations is often not appreciated by non-cavers. Some sites may be dug regularly for years and involve serious engineering work to gain new passage. For example, on Leck Fell in Lancashire it took four years for a group of cavers to excavate nearly 80 metres vertically to gain access to a series of passages already discovered by divers (Walsh 2001). One way of monitoring digging is through reports of finds of animal bones, as these are ubiquitous in unconsolidated cave sediments in the region.

Finds of Animal Bones

Since the 1950s animal remains have been reported from 25 sites in the sporting cave literature (Murphy 2002) and a further 8 sites are known but no written record of the discovery of animal remains was made (Murphy 2003a). Sites which have produced vertebrate remains described in the scientific literature are listed in Chamberlain (2002). Proximity to the road and rail networks has been a significant factor in determining which sites have received scientific attention, whereas surface accessibility has not deterred sporting cavers. This suggests there may be many more sites in the area with a much wider geographical spread than is indicated by a study of the scientific literature.

The Recovered Bones

However, there are important contrasts between the sites recorded from the caving and scientific literature. The bias of the caver records towards large animal bones is mentioned in Murphy and Chamberlain (2003). This probably reflects to some degree the probability with which finds are noticed and reported by sporting cavers. While this is certainly a valid explanation, the limitations posed by the use of head mounted lighting systems by cavers are not generally appreciated by non-cavers. Even in regularly visited sites bones have been passed by cavers for many years before being noticed. For example, although bones had already been recovered from the River Junction area of Kingsdale Master Cave (a very popular caving trip for novices), a horse skull jammed beneath a rock ledge next to the main cavers path was only noticed in 2002 (Murphy 2003b). Another contrast is in the age of the material recovered. The majority of the caver recovered fauna is probably, at least in part, of domestic or agricultural origin. This may reflect the lack of older deposits at the sites, though the occasional record of older faunas suggests this is unlikely. Cavers may also preferentially select digging sites where active deposition has occurred in recent times.

Cave Digging Techniques

A third possible explanation results from the contrasting aims of a cave exploration dig with those of an archaeological dig. The approach of cavers is to try and minimise the amount of material removed in order to gain access to open passages. This is not only to minimise the physical effort involved but because opportunities to dispose of debris from the dig site are often limited. In a filled horizontal passage this means digging against the roof as this will probably be where the blockage is the shortest, the fill least consolidated and the probability of intersecting any unfilled roof voids the highest. When digging a filled shaft the cavers will follow a solid wall rather than trying to go down the centre. This allows bracing of the dug shaft and will hopefully reach the top of any ongoing passage with the least volume of material needing to be moved. The strategies employed by cavers mean that in a horizontal passage the cavers are concentrating on removing the youngest sediment deposited in the passage and in a vertical shaft fill the oldest deposits at the base of the filled shaft will hopefully not need to be disturbed. This contrasts with the activities of archaeologists whose aim is to unravel as much of the history of the site as possible. As a result the recovery of animal bones by cavers must be taken as an indication of the potential of a site to contain older remains and not be judged as archaeologically unimportant solely on the basis of the age and origins of the bones submitted for identification.

Ipswichian Faunas

The two cave sites in the Craven area which have produced Ipswichian (OIS 5e) faunas are both known as a result of major excavations. In the case of Raygill Fissure, Lothersdale, the cave was exposed as a result of limestone quarrying and the fauna were recovered as the quarry face moved through a filled off-vertical shaft. The Ipswichian fauna were at the base of the completely sediment filled shaft from the base of which a horizontal passage led off (Mial 1880). The site appears to have been a pitfall trap in pre-last glacial times. In the case of Victoria Cave, the Ipswichian strata was only discovered as a result of the deliberate sinking of a number of shafts in the floor of the cave as part of a large scale archaeological dig (Tiddeman 1872). In neither case was there any evidence of the presence of these older deposits before quarrying or excavation took place. This shows the possibility of there being more such sites in the Craven area and any sites identified as containing animal remains by cave exploration activity must be considered as potential repositories of older deposits.

Conclusion

In conclusion, digging as a means of discovering new caves by sporting cavers has made a significant contribution to our knowledge of the archaeological resource of caves in the Yorkshire Dales. The strategies employed by cavers in order to dig through material blocking both horizontal passages and vertical shafts tends to limit the disturbance to the youngest layers in the deposit and has contributed to the bias apparent in the caver records towards more recent bone assemblages. This current paper has concentrated on the Yorkshire Dales, and as a review of currently available evidence offers an initial assessment of the impact that recreational cave digging has on archaeological deposits. It would suggest that such digging activities should not necessarily be seen as a problem by the archaeological community or the statutory bodies responsible for conservation as the damage caused, on the whole, would appear limited. It should instead be seen as an opportunity to increase our knowledge of this often neglected field of archaeology.

References

Chamberlain, A. T. 2002. A gazetteer of non-human vertebrate remains from caves in the Yorkshire Dales described in the scientific literature. Capra 4 available at-
http://capra.group.shef.ac.uk/4/bonecavechamberlain.html

Mial L C 1880. Raygill Fissure, the cave and its contents. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological and Polytechnic Society 7: 207-8

Murphy, P. J. 2003a. A gazetteer of non-human vertebrate remains from caves in the Yorkshire Dales for which there is no record. Capra 5 available at -
http://capra.group.shef.ac.uk/5/bonecave2.html

Murphy, P. J. 2003b. More of the Kingsdale Horse. Speleology 2: 5

Murphy, P. J. 2002. A gazetteer of non-human vertebrate remains from caves in the Yorkshire Dales referenced in caving club journals and allied literature. Revised version 2004. Capra 4 available at –
http://capra.group.shef.ac.uk/4/bonecavemurphy.html

Murphy, P. J. & Chamberlain, A. T. 2003. The bone caves of the Yorkshire Dales. Speleology 1: 11

Tiddeman, R. H. 1872. Discovery of extinct mammals in the Victoria Cave, Settle. Nature VII: 127-8

Walsh, A. 2001. The quest for a dry way. Descent 159: 20-22

Written by
P.J. Murphy. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, U.K.
email: p.murphy@earth.leeds.ac.uk
Murphy, P.J. 2004. Cavers, Digging and Archaeological Finds in the Yorkshire Dales. Capra 6 available at - http://capra.group.shef.ac.uk/6/cavedigging.pdf

Digging for the Dream in Mound Bayou

2009-05-31T01:19:00.000-07:00

Abstract
In March, 1998, a public excavation occurred in Mound Bayou, one of the first all-black incorporated towns in the US. At one time, Mound Bayou was a prosperous and influential community. Today, because of economic conditions, Mound Bayouans are struggling to survive and teach their youth about their important history and culture. The public dig which centered on a town lot behind the Bank of Mound Bayou and also contained their first City Hall, was aimed at involving young people in the discovery and preservation of their heritage. This paper reports on this "ground-breaking"archaeological project in the Mississippi Delta and discusses some steps for working with a descendant community.

Introduction

In March, 1998, a pubic dig was held in Mound Bayou, Mississippi. The excavation was conducted by Amy Young, Milburn Crowe, five students from The University of Southern Mississippi, Phil Carr, and, most importantly, local youth. After presenting a brief sketch of the history of this remarkable all-black town in the Mississippi Delta, a discussion of the steps in working with a descendant community are presented. The purpose is to share information about what we found that works when descendant communities participate in archaeological investigations.

Mound Bayou was established in 1887 by Isaiah T. Montgomery and his cousin Benjamin Green (Hermann 1981; Hamilton 1991). It is located in Bolivar County, Mississippi in the region known as the Delta (Figure 1). The Delta is renown for its many vast late antebellum cotton plantations (Cobb 1992). Montgomery and Green established Mound Bayou to be a haven and self-sufficient black community in the midst of the white-controlled cotton kingdom. This is especially remarkable considering the violence of the post-Reconstruction era in the Deep South, particularly in the Delta. Isaiah Montgomery and Benjamin Green and the other early pioneers of Mound Bayou wanted to create a refuge for blacks in the heart of this plantation country. In the words of modem residents, "Mound Bayou was a place where a black man could run FOR sheriff instead of FROM the sheriff."

Isaiah Montgomery was born a slave on May 21, 1847 to Ben and Mary Montgomery (Hamilton 1991). Ben Montgomery was one of Joseph Davis' (brother of Jefferson Davis) favored slaves. Ben Montgomery learned special skills (farm management, reading, and writing) and managed to accumulate some wealth. His son, Isaiah served as Joseph Davis' personal slave and secretary until Davis fled the Union Army in 1862 (Hamilton 1991).

After the war, Ben Montgomery purchased Brierfield and Hurricane plantations at Davis Bend that had been owned by Joseph Davis (Hamilton 1991). Because of financial setbacks, however, he lost the property in 1881. His son, Isaiah Montgomery, spent his life trying to bring his family back to their former state of wealth and comfort. Mound Bayou was one of the results of these efforts (Hamilton 1991).

Benjamin Green was born a slave in 1857 on the Davis Bend settlement. In 1886 he lived
with his aunt Mrs. Benjamin Montgomery (Isaiah Montgomery's mother) and learned planting and mercantile businesses. Benjamin Green was the Montgomery's mercantile manager at Davis Bend.

Benjamin Green and Isaiah Montgomery convinced other former slaves from the Davis Bend area near Vicksburg to join them in the settlement. They also attracted other black settlers to Mound Bayou, as well. Modern Mound Bayou residents feel that the success of the early colony is a clear demonstration of the potential and abilities of peoples who had been enslaved. Therefore, modern Mound Bayouans are not ashamed of their roots in slavery, but rather proud.

Mound Bayou was to be developed as part of the extension of railroads into the Deep South, and was thus placed on the Louisville, New Orleans and Texas line (Hamilton 1991:43). The Delta during the 1880s was still largely uninhabited and an untamed wilderness. Even in the twentieth century there were still vast tracts of Delta that remained a wilderness. The cotton plantations were located primarily on the Mississippi River, but the remainder of the Delta contained thick forests of hardwoods and pine trees, with numerous streams and bayous which made the area virtually impenetrable. "Poisonous snakes, wolves, panthers, and bears endangered adventurers ... and settlers" (Hamilton 1991:44). The earliest colonists of Mound Bayou were faced with the tremendous task of carving a town and community out of the wilderness with little or no economic resources. The railroad served to connect Mound Bayou with the rest of the nation.

According to Hamilton (I 991:5 0-5 1), the experiences of a pioneer of Mound Bayou named Simon Gaiter seem to typify those of most of the early settlers. Gaiter arrived in 1887 with $175, but his family did not join him until the following year. Gaiter purchased a 40-acre plot, cleared a small part, and with the timber, built a log house for his family. After the down payment of $40, the purchase of supplies, and the cost of transporting his family and his possessions to Mound Bayou, Gaiter was left with only $10.00. This was not enough to make it through the first year. Gaiter had his wife and children clear five acres of the town for $4.00 per acre and Gaiter himself cut firewood for $6.00 per cord. Gaiter's children and wife also picked cotton for $0.50 per hundredweight. Gaiter supplemented the family's diet with hunting and fishing, but recalled many weeks without meat (Hamilton 1991:50-51).

In the 1890s and in the first years of the twentieth century the population of the town and
surrounding black colony grew (Hamilton 1991:53). Isaiah Montgomery, Benjamin Green, and other pioneers not only spent time in their own family pursuits establishing businesses and farms, but also continued to contact people of means around the nation to invest in Mound Bayou, with the ultimate goal of making the town self-sufficient. In 1891 there were about 500 residents in the colony. In 1893 there were 183 living in the town proper. By 1900, the town was home to 287 residents with an additional 1500 living in the hinterlands on farms (Hamilton 1991:53). A study of the 1900 census of Mound Bayou shows 65 households. It is evident that Mound Bayouans placed a priority on education. Nearly 90% of the population could read, according to the census. The most common occupations were farmer, farm laborer, day laborer, servant, and grocer. Most of those listed as farm laborer apparently worked on their father's farm. Day laborers hired out on other farms. There were two blacksmiths in Mound Bayou in1900, two general contractors, three ministers, three carpenters, a postmaster, a stenographer, a wheelwright, a barber, two teachers, one lawyer, and one physician in 1900.

In the first years of the twentieth century, a prominent black businessman, Charles Banks, arrived in the community and founded the Bank of Mound Bayou. By 1910 the pioneers of Mound Bayou had succeeded in transforming the little community into a thriving town of 500 people, and many more in the hinterlands, with thirteen stores, six churches, a train station, a telephone exchange, and a weekly newspaper. It appeared that the dream of Isaiah Montgomery and the other early settlers had been realized (Hermann198 1). President Theodore Roosevelt named Mound Bayou "The Jewel of the Delta" and the town had the backing of Booker T. Washington and many other prominent Americans. Various industrial endeavors were established in the town. These included several cotton gins and a cotton oil mill. The cotton oil mill was erected as an additional economic boost to the economy of Mound Bayou.

Mound Bayouans understand that their unique history has also given them a unique perspective. Mound Bayou has ALWAYS had black officials like mayors, sheriffs, school board members, aldermen, and police, so that the fears associated with dealing with the white counterparts has been somewhat subdued in local residents. They recognized that black folks had much to fear from whites outside of town, but they have never really felt that once black officials are in place that all problems are automatically solved. Also, the everyday oppression felt by many black Mississippians in the early part of this century were not the norm for Mound Bayouans, however, residents could never remain shielded from the harsh outside world.

More than anything, Mound Bayouans feel that they have a special story to tell and their town holds a very special place in local, state, and national history. They feel that their town can be a source of pride for many Americans, not just Mound Bayouans. They also strongly feel that their youth need to be exposed to their own history and culture, but because of encroaching economic conditions, this is becoming more and more difficult. Mound Bayouans are proud of their history and want to share it. Also, because Mound Bayouans do not want Isaiah Montgomery's dream to fade, the project was entitled, "Digging for the Dream: Archaeology at Mound Bayou."

To our knowledge, this is the first archaeological project designed and implemented by a black community. The public outreach plus the involvement of the community in discovering and interpreting their past, then relating that history to outsiders makes this project another example of the pioneering efforts of the citizens of Mound Bayou.

Working with Descendant Communities

Involvement of descendant communities is an increasingly visible topic in historical archaeology (McKee 1998; McDavid 1997; Derry 1997; Blakey 1997; Singleton 1997). Within African-American archaeology the issue of involving descendant communities has gone beyond an interesting, and possibly productive, idea to a necessity. The political, social, and economic effects of archaeological investigations (and the resulting interpretations) on the descendant community and the entire nation must be considered by archaeologists (Blakey 1997). Suggestions by archaeologists for involving descendant communities have run the gamut from informing these groups after the fact (e.g., give a public slide presentation), to having descendant communities involved in earlier stages of research (Edwards-Ingram 1997). Further, many archaeologists have been confronted by difficulties trying to involve descendant communities in the archaeological research (McDavid 1997; Derry 1997). Clearly, involvement of descendant communities is complex, time consuming for archaeologists, but also very important in African-American archaeology.

This remainder of this paper describes the process, which is on-going, of public archaeology in Mound Bayou, Mississippi. The effort is a sustained collaboration between a professional archaeologist and the local citizens. We will outline the steps we have taken, and the issues we have faced to accomplish a public dig.

The Steps

The archaeology at Mound Bayou began as a chance encounter between the two authors of this article. Mr. Crowe is a native and historian of Mound Bayou. Amy Young met him as he served as the President of the Mississippi African American Historic Preservation Council. Crowe invited Young as soon as he understood her research area was African American archaeology. Crowe had been thinking about the possibility of archaeology in his town.

What made this first step easy was that Mr. Crowe already had some understanding of historical archaeology, which is remarkable in itself. He had met Theresa Singleton when she was involved in "Digging the Afro-American Past"conference in nearly a decade ago. While that conference was held in Oxford, Mississippi, it also included a tour of Mound Bayou. Most non-archaeologists have no understanding of the profession of archaeology and often equate archaeology with Indiana Jones. Without a basic understanding of the potential and limitations of modern archaeology, collaboration between professional archaeologists and others is very difficult.

Despite the knowledge that Mr. Crowe had an understanding of historical archaeology, when Young first visited Mound Bayou, she made a slide presentation of my work on other African-American sites so that he and other local residents might know something about the kinds of information we obtain in our work. This was very important because it made the descendant community aware of the potential and the limits of archaeology. This step, educating the descendant community, is absolutely critical for public archaeology and for involvement of a descendant community in archaeology. It is somewhat unfortunate that non-archaeologists have such a limited understanding of archaeology and often equate it with treasure hunting and Indiana Jones.

During this first visit, Mr. Crowe and other residents began educating Young about the history of their town. The history presented in the first part of this article is the story of Mound Bayou from the perspective of local residents. All referenced material was checked with residents for accuracy. Learning the history from the perspective of the descendant community was the second step for the archaeologist in working with a descendant community. In this case, because of the pride Mound Bayouans feel for their history and culture, this second step was also easy. Understanding the history and the source of pride that Mound Bayou provides to residents was critical for the archaeologist who was often reminded by the residents that history is a very personal thing and that archaeologists are actually digging up (through excavations and through interviews) intimate aspects of their past. Interestingly, while Young was taught the history of Mound Bayou, she also learned of the diversity of opinions within the community and how this affects modern cultural traditions like their annual Heritage Festival. Recognizing the diversity within a descendant community is the third step in working with a descendant community. For example, there are Mound Bayouans who are descended from the original pioneers. There are Mound Bayouans who are descended from later immigrants. This is a source of potential conflict, even if it is only friendly competition. Knowledge of the history and culture of another community from the perspective of the descendant community is also critical for a successful project.

Once it was decided that a dig was to take place then the fourth step was to find the right site. Because of the potential divisiveness within the community based on descent from early pioneer or later immigrant, Young encouraged a focus on a site with which all Mound Bayouans could identify. In other words, we decided not to excavate at the home of one of the founding families, but on a public or commercial site.

In this case, the choice was relatively simple. Mound Bayouans recognize that they have several important buildings, including the Bank of Mound Bayou constructed in 1904 by Charles Banks, a later immigrant. The old bank building is in a state of disrepair because the current owner cannot afford to fix it. The Mound Bayou Historic Preservation Council hopes eventually to acquire the building and obtain funds to stabilize and reconstruct it. Some hope it can be used as a cultural center.

The Bank of Mound Bayou is a two story brick structure, listed on the National Register of Historic Places standing on the corner of West Main and Green streets (Lot 1,Green's Square). The first floor contained the bank, but the second story held offices, including an office of a physician, Dr. Scott Harris, and offices of the Mound Bayou Oil Mill. The building served as the headquarters of the Knights and Daughters of Tabor, a black fraternal organization aimed at helping widows and orphans and supporting black business endeavors. Charles Banks organized the Mississippi Negro Business League as a chapter of Booker T. Washington's national organization, also located in the Bank of Mound Bayou (Hermann 198 1). The building occupies almost the entire lot, and it was thought that Lot Two may contain refuse from the building as it was vacant until 1919 or 1920. The refuse may help in understanding the daily activities that took place in the bank building, and many of these activities are associated with the early organization and business activities of the town.

The lot on which we excavated, besides being immediately adjacent to the Bank of Mound Bayou was eventually the site of the first City Hall and Mayor's office. The building which served as the first city hall was constructed in 1919 or 1920 by Benjamin A. Green, Benjamin Green's son and first child born in Mound Bayou. Benjamin A. Green served as Mayor of Mound Bayou from 1920 until around 1970. All of these factors made the lot ideal for an archaeological excavation. Choosing the site together with the descendant community is absolutely necessary so that the archaeologist has the support of residents.

Many residents of Mound Bayou felt that the local youth had a poor to marginal understanding of the history and culture of Mound Bayou. They felt that it was necessary to involve young people in the archaeological project. Thus the public aspect of this project was born. We decided where to dig and that this was to be a local effort. Crowe and Young wrote a grant proposal to fund a public dig and because it must, involve school-age children, the excavation was scheduled for Spring Break. The fifth step in working with a descendant community is to directly involve local people in the work. In this case, the youth of Mound Bayou excavated with us.

The decision to involve the youth of Mound Bayou in the archaeology was one of the wisest decisions we made. Instead of strangers coming into town to excavate, it put control in the hands of the descendant community. Furthermore, in a community that has experienced continual oppression from whites and made some local residents reluctant to share memories, it opened the door to additional information in the form of oral histories shared more with the youth than with strangers.

After the excavation and the processing and identification of the artifacts, the story of this public dig and what we found will be disseminated throughout Mississippi in the form of a traveling exhibit of "Digging for the Dream in Mound Bayou." The last step in working with a descendant community is to make sure all interpretations are approved by that community. In this case, Young made a subsequent visit to Mound Bayou to meet with the Mayor and the Historic Preservation Council where she laid out ideas for the exhibit, which they commented upon and approved. Most of her suggestions were greeted warmly and the input added detail and richness to the exhibit. This last step is the most important of all, because who owns the story of Mound Bayou but Mound Bayouans.

The Digging for the Dream project culminated in a final public forum to disseminate the findings during Mississippi's Archaeology Week. Young gave a brief slide presentation of the dig, and Theresa Singleton came and talked about the place of Mound Bayou in state, National, and international history. Dr. Alferdteen Harrison, from Jackson State University also spoke, as did the mayor of Mound Bayou, and Mr. Crowe.

Conclusions

The public excavations at Mound Bayou were a tremendous success for a number of reasons. First, Mound Bayouans initiated the project and had control over the site and the subsequent interpretations. Second, a dialogue between Mound Bayouans and professional archaeologists was facilitated through mutual interests and through involvement of the youth of Mound Bayou. Third, involvement of the youth of Mound Bayou in the excavations tended to open the doors (and memories) to outsiders. In this way, elderly residents felt they were sharing their memories and oral histories with their younger residents rather than outsiders who might not understand. Third, Mound Bayouans are proud of their history and want to share this history with everyone. They believed that archaeology would be an effective way of gaining the attention of the public to educate them about Mound Bayou.

Because of the work of the volunteers, those who excavated and those who shared their knowledge, we now know more about the activities that took place within the Bank of Mound Bayou and City Hall. We have a secure date of ca. 1920 for the construction of the city hall building. But perhaps even more important, the youth of Mound Bayou have a deeper appreciation of the history of their important community and can now share that history with others across the state.

More than anything else, working with descendant communities in discovering and uncovering the past makes the work or archaeologists very relevant. Most archaeologists want to make a difference through their work and this is a very rewarding way to make a difference.

Another reward of working for a descendant community is the access to oral history. While there is little in surviving documents concerning the African-American experience in the United States, especially written by blacks, there is a wealth of information in the form of oral history. When the descendant community is in control of a project, they feel ready to share the crucial information in oral history with the archaeologist.

The overall success of the "Digging for the Dream" project is, in part, attributable to the unique character and culture heritage within the community of Mound Bayou. This case study of working with descendant communities, therefore, is ideal. However, in archaeological and cultural investigations of black life in and around Natchez, Mississippi, the same basic principles were adopted and also have been successful. One of the biggest problems to overcome in working with African-American descendant communities is the perspective shared by part of the community that there is something shameful in the history of slavery. In other words, there is some degree of shame within the black community concerning slavery and descent from slaves. In the case of Mound Bayou, this was not an issue. However, through trust, respectful discussion, and mutual education, this can be overcome. Building trusting relationships, though, is very time consuming for the archaeologist and for members of the descendant community. One final step in working with descendant communities is do not force any beliefs or issues on that community until there is a general willingness to be open and trusting in the exchange of information.

References

Derry, Linda 1997 Pre-Emancipation Archaeology: Does It Play in Selma, Alabama. Historical Archaeology 31(3):18-26.

Edwards-Ingrarn, Ywone 1997 Toward "True Acts of Inclusion:" The "Here" and the "Out There" Concepts in Public Archaeology. Historical Archaeology 31(3):27-36.

Franklin, Maria 1997 "Power to the People:" Sociopolitics and the Archaeology of Black America. Historical Archaeology 31(3):36-51.

Hamilton, Kenneth M. 1991 Black Towns and Profit: Promotion and Development in the Trans _Appalachian West, 1877-1915. University of Illinois Press, Urbana.

Hermann, Janet Sharp 1981 The Pursuit of a Dream. Oxford University Press, New York.

McDavid, Carol 1997 Descendants, Decisions, and Power: The Public Interpretation of the Archaeology of the Levi Jordan Plantation. Historical Archaeology 31(3):114-132.

McKee, Larry 1998 Some Thoughts on the Past, Present, and Future of the Archaeology of the African Diaspora. Paper presented at the Plenary Session "Where Are We and Where Do We Need to Go" at the annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology, January 1998, Atlanta, GA.

Written by:
Amy L. Young (Department of Anthropology and Sociology The University of Southern Mississippi)
Milburn J. Crowe (Mound Bayou, Mississippi)

George Washington’s Blacksmith Shop

2009-05-24T03:58:00.000-07:00

During 1930s, Morley Williams, a landscape architect from Harvard University, was conducting historical and archaeological research at the plantation and he supervised the initial excavations at George Washington’s Blacksmith Shop. The Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association was interested in the smithy as a possible candidate for reconstruction in the early of this decade. Williams and the Association were interested in identifying structures and other features present during 1799, the year of George Washington’s death, to enhance the authenticity of the historic house museum. Besides numerous documentary references to the shop, the structure was depicted on the Vaughan plan drawn in 1787. At some point a brick Ice House was constructed at the site of the Blacksmith Shop and debate over the age of this structure, the date of the demise of the smithy, and the Blacksmith's Shop size and appearance were the goals of this and subsequent excavations conducted over the next half-century.

Morley Williams excavated at the Blacksmith's Shop during the 1930s.

The Association sought physical evidence for the exact location and appearance of the Blacksmith's Shop, as well as about the activities undertaken at the Blacksmith's Shop to support a reconstruction of the building and interpret blacksmithing at the museum, an important component of the plantation economy. Besides Morley Williams’s work in the 1930s, restoration architect Walter Macomber excavated at the site during the 1950s and 1960s as did the Virginia Research Center for Archaeology during their survey and archaeological assessment of the plantation in 1984 -- 85. Dennis J. Pogue, Mount Vernon’s first Chief Archaeologist, completed this final excavation in 1989.

The base of the brick blacksmith's forge.

The archaeological excavations revealed considerable structural evidence for the shop. This included a fragmentary brick foundation that is interpreted to be the base of the forge, and two sections of masonry, running east-west and 16 feet apart, that are remnants of the foundation for the long walls of the shop. The forge base has a characteristic void in the center, marking the location of the fire box. A portion of the forge base and most of the shop’s foundations were disturbed by later construction, including erecting a mid-19th century ice house overlapping with the shop’s footprint.

Postholes such as these show the location for fences near the Shop.

The archaeological evidence indicates that the shop was 16 feet in width, but the other dimension cannot be determined. On the Vaughan plan the building measures roughly 12 by 40 feet, but this is clearly an example of artistic license. The depiction of the shop shown on the earlier Vaughan sketch appears more likely to be closer to the actual dimensions, as it is shown as roughly 18 by 24 feet.

The Vaughan plan depicts the Blacksmith Shop (top left) as 12 x 40 feet. Click image to see the 18 x 24-foot Shop on Vaughan's earlier sketch (#13).

Two rows of post holes and molds mark the location of two fencelines, each of which intersected with a corner on the east end of the shop. The fenceline connecting with the southeast corner turned to form a work yard on that side of the building, turning again to run parallel to the north lane and ultimately connecting with a corner of the Servants Hall, 160 feet distant, just as indicated on the 1787 Vaughan plan. The distance between the square post molds was six feet, and the view of the site shown in a painting executed by Edward Savage circa 1792 indicates that the fence was well finished and painted white. The other fenceline ran from the northeast corner of the shop to the north along the edge of the lane. The round postmolds marking this fence were nine feet apart, suggesting that it was a more rustic, post-and-rail fence. This fence appears to have been replaced by the time that Savage made his painting, as his depiction shows a white fence connecting with the northwest corner of the building, matching the one on the other side of the shop.

This painting from c. 1792 provides important evidence for the Blacksmiths'' Shop and the two fences.

The resulting picture of the Blacksmith's Shop is of a modest structure, supported by a brick foundation, upon which a wooden frame, clapboard siding, and shingled roof were erected. The Savage painting and plantation records indicate that the shop was unpainted, suggesting that it was considered to be a more utilitarian structure than the other outbuildings along the lane, with their white-painted walls and red-painted shingles. The adjoining fenced yard would have served as a handy general work area, being especially useful when repairing large items such as wagons and carriages, and bulky agricultural equipment. Great quantities of coal, slag, and other refuse were found within the yard area, testifying to the common practice of the day of disposing of rubbish, even very messy materials such as smith’s waste, very near their source.

An artist's rendering of what the Blacksmith's Shop may have looked like.

The bottom courses of a robbed brick wall footing were found abutting what is interpreted as the northeast corner of the Shop. This is likely the terminus of the brick Ha-Ha wall that encircled the east lawn of the Mansion, and which is known to have been in existence by 1785. This portion of the Ha-Ha wall was removed and relocated in the 1890s during its reconstruction. At that time the route of the wall was altered to terminate at the corner of the brick Ice House. When the Blacksmith's Shop was demolished, the Ha-Ha would have ended in space, necessitating its extension to the west, where it probably connected with a fence or wall running along the north lane. The Currier plan of 1855 shows the north Ha-Ha connecting with a short section of wall or fence just north of the ice house.

The foundation of the earlier Ha-Ha wall.

Based on the archaeological evidence Mount Vernon reconstructed the Blacksmith Shop in 2009. Today, this important plantation craft is once again practiced at the site. The numerous artifacts and historical information discovered during the investigations help interpret the space for our visitors.

Photogrammetry for the Preparation of Archaeological Excavation (Part II)

2009-05-23T01:21:00.000-07:00

4. PHOTOGRAMMETRIC DATA PROCESSING

4.1 Multi-image photogrammetry

Photogrammetric solutions (Grussenmeyer et al., 2002) are either based on the processing of single images (e.g. image rectification of plane objects), stereoplottings (for stereopairs of photos), or multi-image restitutions when a set of convergent photos of an object is available. The last solution has been chosen for our project in order to process in one block the sets of photos taken from the different types of cameras. We used the PhotoModeler software package from EOS System (Canada), well known for its applications in close range photogrammetry, architecture and archaeology.

The preparation steps in order to process the images were the following:
- definition of the “camera” file for each type of camera: the « camera calibrator » module of PhotoModeler has been used for the calibration of the digital cameras;
- for the archive images, an approximate camera file has been edited (camera with four fiducial marks) for further “on the job calibration”;
- edition of the control point table (from the geodetic survey);
- scan of the film or paper-based images (for the set of archive images and the color slides from the Nikon F3 camera).

The basic steps in this type of project performed with PhotoModeler are :
- choice two or more overlapping photographs from different angles of the object ;
- use the point and line tools to mark on the photographs control and tie points;
- reference the points by indicating which points on different photographs represent the same location on the object (homologous points);
- process referenced data to produce 3D model;
- check the adjustment and view the resulting 3D model in the 3D viewer ;
- extract coordinates, distances, curves, surfaces, textures etc. within PhotoModeler;
- export the 3D model to rendering, animation or CAD program.

4.2 Calibration of the cameras

Four types of images are used for this project:
- images from a Nikon Coolpix 5000 camera used in the extreme positions of the zoom (7mm and 21mm). This camera was calibrated in the two positions using the calibration grid proposed in the PhotoModeler software (module "camera calibration");
- images taken with a traditional reflex camera Nikon F3, equipped with a Nikkor 55mm objective. The calibration was carried out like previously after scanning the slides of the calibration grid;
- images (prints or copies of film, see paragraph 3.1) of 1930-1936 scanned with a resolution of 900dpi: unfortunately no photogrammetric information on the characteristics of the cameras used has been found. Several types of glass-platesbased cameras with focal distances of 20 to 30cm were used at that time for the acquisition of aerial and terrestrial views (Roussilhe, 1936). The focal length of the camera used for this archive images is written on the border of the image (26 cm) and the original size of the images (glass plates in the 1930’s) was supposed to be 24 cm x 18 cm.

4.3 Adjustment of the block of the images of 2003

More than 130 images were realized in spring 2003 with the Nikon F3 and Nikon Coolpix cameras (a hundred images on the ground and about thirty in the helicopter). A first block of 18 oblique views of the castle was oriented in June 2003 using the control points materialized on the ground by targets (figure 6). Standard deviations of about 10 cm on the co-ordinates of the points measured on the images have been obtained. We then selected in this project a set of points simultaneously visible on the images of 1931-1936, in order to define approximations of the photogrammetric parameters, and to calculate a block based on a selection of these archive images.

4.4 Adjustment of a block of archive images

Initially we selected 5 oblique photographs (approx. scales of 1/1000 to 1/2000) in order to document archaeological vestiges of the North and West parts (Grussenmeyer & Yasmine, 2003). The approximate values of the internal and external orientations of the archive images have been computed within the module "process & autocalibration" of PhotoModeler with the help of control points defined in §4.3.

4.5 Merger of the two projects and preparation of the restitution

At this stage, the two separately calculated projects are referred to the same reference system. The process of merging (of several projects) proposed in the PhotoModeler software allows the restitution of three-dimensional elements simultaneously on the photographs of 1936 and 2003, and to superimpose and display these results within a unique project.

Figure 9. Overview of the camera stations and the block configuration after the exterior orientation. At the right: a vertical view of 1935 allowing the location of the camera stations.

4.6 Addition of other images in the project

Depending on the parts of the castle to model, any other recent or archive image can be imported and oriented within the project by identification of homologous points.

5. PREPARATION OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATION

From the block of images previously oriented, the restitution initially carried out in 2D in Autocad (e.g. fig. 7 and 8) will be enriched by a 3D restitution corresponding to the objectives of the documentation. We are then able to calculate and draw the visible structures from the aerial and terrestrial photographs of 2003 by digitalizing on the images. One will proceed in an identical way on the archive photographs to measure the
archaeological structures currently covered by the remains of the war currently embanked or destroyed (fig. 10), or to plot in 3D parts of the castle (see §6).

Figure 10. Restitution of the embankment areas: on the left, the boundary of the embankment is marked on a photo of 2003 and on the right, the corresponding surface is projected on an archive photo of 1936

The superposition of the two restitutions makes it possible to highlight the areas of interest (figures 10 and 11) for archaeological work and to estimate work of civil engineering (fill, cubature, rebuilding, etc).

Moreover, the restitution of the site in wire frame and surface model can be supplemented by the addition of textures coming either from the images of 1936, or of those of 2003. From the resulting 3D photomodels, orthophotos can be calculated for the two periods, as e.g. for the frontages of the castle or the installations around the site covering the archaeological structures (fig. 11).

1936

2003
Figure 11. Archaeological structures are measured on the archive images of 1936 and the corresponding surface is shown on the photos of 2003

Figure 12. Example of orthophoto of the archaeological structure (computed from an archive image of 1936)

6. RESTITUTION OF THE HISTORICAL STRUCTURES NOWADAYS DISAPPEARED

The aim of the restitution is to help the consultant to establish the framework of the excavation and restoration tasks, by showing the destroyed historical structures.
The study is currently focused on different parts of the castle (figure 13). For some of them (as courses of bricks or stoneworks ”label B”), a 3D restitution of both archive and recent images is possible.
Parts recovered by embankment are modelled from only archive images (watering place “label A”, counterscarp “label C” and archaeological remains on the western part of the castle “label D”).

Figure 13. Vertical archive view showing some studied parts

Figure 14. Recent image showing the surroundings of the castle and the current constructions

7. CONCLUSION

This project shows the importance of photogrammetry within the framework of 3D documentation of the castle of Beaufort, for the development of the site and the landscape. By using the old aerial photographs taken by French air force of the Levant between 1931 and 1936, a comparative restitution makes it possible to locate in a precise way the visible archaeological structures on the archive photographs. This documentation helps the consultant to establish the framework of the excavation and restoration tasks by showing the destroyed historical structures. A photogrammetric restitution of the whole set of photographs carried out in April 2003 is planned in the future, as a preparation of the restoration of the castle and its surroundings. The contractor who will be in charge of this work will then have all information to release the great quantity of fill around the castle, in order to preserve intact the historical and archaeological structures which would be still in-situ below the embankment.
Such a project shows also the interest of a cooperation between the architect and the photogrammetry expert for both simple and complex tasks. On the one hand, the orientation process combining different kind of archive and digital images requires scientific tools and experience in the handling of images with different geometry. On the other hand, the photogrammetric documentation (in this project one day only was enough for the aerial and terrestrial images) as well as the restitution work can easily be done by the architect.

8. REFERENCES

References from Journals:
Grussenmeyer, P., 2003. Photogrammétrie architecturale et modélisation 3D du patrimoine. Revue de l’Association Française de Topographie, 2e trim. 2003, N°95, p.30-36.

References from Books:
Deschamps, P., 1939. Les Châteaux des Croisés en Terre Sainte II: La Défense du Royaume de Jérusalem, étude historique, géographique et monumentale, vol. "Album", Bibliothèque Archéologique et Historique, Tome XXXIV, Paris, Librairie Orientaliste Paul Geuthner, Plate LV.

Grussenmeyer, P., Yasmine, J., 2003. The Restoration of Beaufort Castle (South-Lebanon): A 3D Restitution According to Historical Documentation. In XIXth CIPA International Symposium, Antalya, Turquey. Sept. 30th. Oct 4tht, 2003. ISPRS International Archives of Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Systems Vol. XXXIV-5/C15 ISSN 1682-1750 pp. 322-327.

Grussenmeyer, P., Hanke, K., Streilein, A., 2002. Architectural photogrammetry. Chapter in « Digital Photogrammetry ». Edited by M. Kasser and Y. Egels, Taylor & Francis, pp. 300-339.

Huot, J.-L., Salem Kardous, A., 2001. Photographies du Levant. Institut Français d’Archéologie du Proche-Orient, Beyrouth, Liban, 165 pages.

Philipson, W.R. (Editor), 1997. Manual of Photographic Interpretation, 2nd Edition. Edited by the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, Bethesda, Maryland, 689 pages.

Roussilhe, H., 1936. La photogrammétrie et ses applications générales, Tomes 1 et 2. Encyclopédie industrielle et commerciale, Librairie de l’enseignement techniques, L. Eyrolles (Paris).

References from Other Literature:
Bessac J.-C. et Yasmine J., 2001. Etude préliminaire des chantiers de construction du château de Beaufort, in BAAL, N°5, p.241-320.

GeoSCAPE

2009-05-22T05:08:00.000-07:00

A 3D Visualization of On-Site Archaeological Excavation Using a Vectorizing Tape Measure

Written by: Jay Lee, Blair Dunn, Sandia Ren, Victor Su, and Hiroshi Ishii

GeoSCAPE is an application that facilitates capturing a 3D visualization of an archeological excavation using HandSCAPE, an orientation-aware digital tape measure (Figure 1). HandSCAPE is an input device for digitizing field measurements to visualize the magnitude and direction of the resulting vectors with computer graphics. Using embedded orientation-sensing hardware, HandSCAPE captures relevant vector information on each linear measurement and transmits this data wirelessly to a remote computer in real time. The GeoSCAPE software analyzes this data, using trigonometry to define vector equations in Cartesian coordinates. Using certain heuristics, these vectors are applied by GeoSCAPE to recreate an archeological excavation rendered in computer graphics.

The Application

An archeological excavation is examined and documented primarily using handwritten measurements, notes, and photography, which are often irreplaceable during the on-site excavation. To fulfill the need for efficiency and functionality in archaeological excavations, GeoSCAPE visualizes the primitive 3D objects created by measuring. It occurred to us that a new application of HandSCAPE could integrate on-site and laboratory archaeological research. By using HandSCAPE to perform measurement tasks with efficiency and speed, the user automatically defines the layout of the excavation on the laptop (Figure 2). As 3D spacing is an important factor in analyzing archeological work, GeoSCAPE provides an important step toward linking the physical archeological excavation with a virtual rendering on-site.

3D Visualization

Our current implementation of GeoSCAPE defines the relationship between the physical space and the virtual space as follows. The “anchor point” in physical space is one corner of the excavation and is represented in the application as a white sphere. This is also the origin of the 3D coordinate system in the virtual space. From this anchor point, a new reference frame is defined by making a vector in physical space and sending the data to the computer by pressing a button on the HandSCAPE device. Within this reference frame, three additional measurements are taken. These are used to define a cubic figure in the virtual space that represents the location of an artifact in the physical excavation. Issues of denoting perspective were also important. Measurement grids were added, as was a 3D compass. The compass, seen in the upper right corner of the screen shot, has its 3D rotation tied to the user’s movement of the virtual excavation. Other functionality introduced here includes a map of the excavated region, display of coordinates and dimensions for the artifact bounding boxes, the ability to create a multi-tier excavation site, and full 3D navigation.

Future Extensions

To provide a single source of access to information regarding the excavation, we are currently working on connecting GeoSCAPE to an archaeological database with notes, photographs, and other relevant information. This database is used during the excavation to aid in reconstruction of the site by referencing stored information. This would allow for immediate access of information pertinent to the objects being viewed and allow the user to better visualize the site. Another idea being pursued is integration of a GPS positioning device into the HandSCAPE tool. GeoSCAPE could link this to a map program to change the map view automatically depending on location and store the data in the database.

Acknowledgement

We would like to thank Louise Krasniewicz, Richard M. Leventhal, and Ken Stuart of the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA for the discussion on the archaeological application. We also thank the members of the Tangible Media Group and our colleagues of the Things That Think consortium at the MITMedia Lab for their support of this research.

References

Dillon, B.D. (Eds). (1993). Practical archaeology: Field and laboratory techniques and archaeological logistics. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 33-38.

Lee, J., Su, V., Ren, S., & Ishii, H. (2000). HandSCAPE: A vectorizing tape measure for on-site measuring applications. In Proc. of Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems CHI'00, 137-144.

Figure 1: The HandSCAPE tool (12 x 12 x 4.5 cm).

Figure 2: New Approach: GeoSCAPE is an on-site archaeological application of HandSCAPE, a digital tape measure with custom sensing electronics. It communicates through a RF signal and performs graphics rendering.

Photogrammetry for the Preparation of Archaeological Excavation (Part I)

2009-05-21T01:04:00.000-07:00

A 3D Restitution According to Modern and Archive Images of Beaufort Castle Landscape (Lebanon)

1930-1936: Archive images of the French Air Force of the Levant (aerial large format images)

2003: Modern digital images (aerial and terrestrial small format images)

1. INTRODUCTION

The Fort of Beaufort is a medieval castle constructed by the crusaders, the Ayyubids and the Mamluks. The castle is located in the southern part of Lebanon, a few kilometers far of the Israeli border. It is one of the emblematic monuments attesting the successive occupations of the site. After the Israeli withdrawal of southern Lebanon, the Lebanese government commissions a multidisciplinary team to establish a preliminary study for the restoration of the castle. This team is composed of many specialists and is headed by Jean Yasmine, a consultant at the Directorate General of Antiquities (DGA). This team is responsible of the establishment of tender documents for contractors. There are many works on this important monument (dimensions of the castle: 75m x 150m; height. 30m; dimensions of the surroundings: 200m x 500m). There is archaeological excavation. There is consolidation and restoration of structures and surfaces. There are also cultural and touristic equipment in the scope of works. The present paper deals with the preparation of archaeological excavation and restoration tasks, by showing the destroyed historical structures.

Figure 1. Recent aerial view of the Beaufort castle (Nikon F3, 2003)

2. HISTORIC OVERVIEW OF THE CASTLE

There is no text related to the castle before the arrival of the crusaders. This rock crest overlooks the passage towards the Syrian hinterland. It is difficult to imagine that there was not a fortified point controlling this passage before the arrival of the crusaders.
The texts say that Beaufort was deserted and taken by the crusaders in 1139. A few years later, Beaufort was ruled by the Lord of Saïda (Sagette). In the year 1179, a battle between Baudoin IV and Saladin took place while Renaud de Sagette was the master of the castle. Saladin took Beaufort in 1190, after a one year siege. A few years later, before the arrival of the Mamluks, Al Salih Ismaïl made a deal with the crusaders and gave them the castle back in 1240. In 1260, Julien de Sagette sold the castle of Beaufort to the Order of the Temple. This order kept the castle until 1268. On that date, the Mamluk Sultan Baibars besieged Beaufort and took it. Restoration works and new constructions are attested in Arab texts.

The 14th, 15th and 16th centuries were calm.

In the 17th century, during the reign of Fakhreddine, a prince of Lebanon, the castle became part of his fortified net. After the defeat of Fakhreddine, the ottomans destroyed the upper structures of the castle. Between 1616 and 1769, the area was ruled by feudal families. In 1782 `Al jazzar governor of cAkka (Saint Jean d'Acre) besieged the castle, took it and destroyed its fortifications.

In 1837, an important earthquake destroyed many parts of the castle. After this date, it became a quarry for the neighborhood and a sheep-fold.

During the same period, in the late 19th century, the Orientalists came and described the castle (successively Rey, Guérin, Conder & Kitchener). The castle was quiet in that period.

After 1920, there was the French mandate on Syria and Lebanon. The French emphasized on the crusader period sites. The authorities began to consolidate and to restore these castles. A first survey and documentation of the site was done in 1936 by the architect Pierre Coupel showing the means of access to upper courtyard of the castle (figure 2). After the independence of Lebanon in 1943, extensive works began.

Figure 2. Map of Pierre Coupel (Architect) drawn up during the Deschamps survey (1936)

Lately, the castle became again a strategic stake in the war of Lebanon. Between 1976 and 1982 it was occupied by the Palestinians who attacked from this fortified point the North of Israel. Between 1976 and 1980, dozens of raids were made on the castle. On June 6th, 1982, it was heavily shelled before it fell in the hands of Israelis on June 8 of that year. The destructions we see nowadays date from that period. The Israeli army stayed there and fortified the surroundings with bunkers and reinforced concrete blocks.
Finally, in the year 2000, the Israeli army withdrew from the castle after the attacks of the Lebanese resistance.

3. THE THREE-DIMENSIONAL RESTITUTION AND THE AIM OF THE RESEARCH

The problem raised for the restitution of the historic surroundings is the preservation of the archaeological remains while excavating the spoil heap dating of the war. Many of these archaeological remains can be seen on historical documentation.

3.1 The historical documentation

Many series of historical photos of the castle exist.

a- Serie 1: These are the photos of the publication of Paul Deschamps (Les châteaux croisés en terre sainte, t. II, La défense du royaume de Jérusalem, Ed. Geutner, Paris, 1939). A little part of these photos were taken by the French air force of the Levant between the years 1930-36. These photos are only available in the publication. The original negatives were never found. The use of this documentation is difficult within the scope of this project; they can only be indicative photos.

b- Serie 2: These are photos still existing in the Institut Français du Proche-Orient (IFPO) archives (figure 3). All these photos were taken by the French air force of the Levant between the years 1930 and 1936. We were able to get duplicates (contact prints) of negatives at a size of 13cm x 18cm, scanned on a desktop scanner.

Figure 3. Example of archive photo of 1936 (IFPO), showing in the foreground the archeological hidden remains

c- Serie 3: These are photos existing in the archives of the DGA. All these photos were taken by the French air force of the Levant between the years 1931 and 1936. They are vertical views (figure 4). Only contact prints at a size of 13cm x 18cm are available; the original negatives were not found. Those contact prints were scanned.

Figure 4. Example of archive photo of 1935 (DGA, area of Beaufort’s castle), showing the castle (in the middle) and the landscape (focal length 26cm, flying height 1300m above ground, 2000m above sea level)

3.2 The modern documentation

After the end of the war, access to the castle became secure. There was a need to manage to realize a complete documentation of the unreachable parts of the castle (basically the eastern elevation over the valley). That’s why a helicopter flight was scheduled in 2003. Aerial oblique views were taken (figure 1) in that flight. They were composed of digital images (Nikon Coolpix 5000, 2560x1920 pixels) and film-based small format color slides (Nikon F3, Nikkor lenses, 55 mm, scanned at a resolution of 3000x2000 pixels). Last but not least, a complete documentation requested terrestrial views of the castle; digital images and again film-based small format color slides were taken (figure 5). Thanks to this exhaustive documentation, three-dimensional restitution was possible. All the modern documentation was produced in one day.

Figure 5. Recent terrestrial digital image (modern documentation, Nikon Coolpix 5000, 2003)

3.3 The topographic survey

On that same day, while photos were being taken, a team of geodetic surveyors installed reference points on the ground and elevations of the castle. These points (figure 6) were easy to identify on the photos. A total-station was used by the surveyors to measure the reference points. This generated threedimensional coordinates for these points.

Figure 6. Examples of targets used for the control points

3.4 The AutoCAD documentation

The first topographic surveys conducted during the preliminary study were not very accurate due to the difficulties encountered in trying to access some of the areas of the castle. These first surveys were performed using GPS and tacheometric techniques. The AutoCAD maps (figures 7 and 8) used to establish the tender documents for the restoration of the castle were based on these surveys. The inaccuracies of these surveys did not represent a major problem for the restoration of the visible areas of the castle. However, these inaccuracies prevented us from computing the exact position of the archaeological hidden remains. We plan to generate a new AutoCAD documentation showing the surroundings of the castle and the archaeological hidden remains that should be dug out (§5).

Figure 7. Example of 2D AutoCAD map from the tacheometric survey of 2002 (level 4 of the castle)

Figure 8. Example of 2D AutoCAD section

Photogrammetric Data Processing will have to wait in the next post....

Archaeology: Survey and Excavation

2009-05-20T02:05:00.000-07:00

Before stepping outside to begin fieldwork, what must the archaeologist do? Crucial issues, as first step such as gaining permission or access to lands, permits for work on public lands, and making sure you have laboratory and storage space for processing and curating the materials you might dig up. Another essential step is connection with the local people, landowners or other residents, to find out what they might already know about the land. Have they collected artifacts, seen darker soils when plowing, or heard that some older residents once knew about older historic structures that once stood there? What will be the effects of your digging or surveying upon the local community? In our new era of mistrust of science and government, I have had to assure people that finding artifacts on their land will NOT mean that the state takes it away from them, and that I would like to see the artifacts they have collected ONLY to photograph them, if permitted, not to take them away.

What is meant by archaeological survey? This is the answer to the common question, “how do you know where to dig?” (And again, we do not want to dig everything we find, but preserve as much as possible.) Survey is the process of locating the archaeological resources in a given area of land. Doing the background work can help pinpoint areas of greater interest. Besides the practical considerations mentioned above, research on the archaeology of the region is also absolutely essential. Where are most prehistoric sites located? Along coasts or rivers or springs? Those portions of land would then have the highest probability and perhaps require the greatest scrutiny. Is the survey being done in the path of proposed construction? If so, then perhaps only the areas where the ground will be disturbed need to be examined.

Learning the environmental and historical variables must take place before you step into the field. Your book describes the work of Heinrich Schliemann, who read the classics and located the Troy of the Trojan Wars. It also mentions the importance of good maps, not only modern, but historical, to show both how the landscape may have changed and what historic remains might have once been located there. In more populated urban areas the old Sanborn insurance company maps may show building outlines or “footprints” that lie underneath modern features.

What is remote sensing? Anything (usually technological device) that helps you learn what is on/in the ground without your having to be there or dig there. So a map is a remote sensing device, but even more sophisticated are aerial photos, including aerial infrared photos, satellite images, and pictures generated by various geophysical prospecting techniques such as magnetometers, electrical resistivity detectors, ground-penetrating radar (GPR), other kinds of radar, sonar, and all those spy devices developed by your friendly military scientists. The raised fields of the ancient Maya were not apparent on the ground in Central America, because, well, it is a jungle out there, but they were easily seen during testing of military imaging technology in the 1970s. Buried or jungle-shrouded features can be anything from just black midden stains to traces of ancient canals, buildings, mounds, and other earthworks. If you do as much remote sensing as possible before and during the on-the-ground fieldwork, site discovery is greatly enhanced.

How is archaeological field survey conducted? There is no substitute for being there and walking around. Especially important is covering open and disturbed ground, where shallower remains may have been churned up by plows, other heavy road building equipment, burrowing animals, and so on. In Florida, we walk dirt roads, plowed lanes in orange groves and cotton or soybean fields, and look for gopher tortoise burrows where the dirt is thrown out around the entrance and may have artifacts in it. We see on the map where the streams and springs are, and the highest ground nearby, and usually find prehistoric sites there. At the northeast end of our campus is a ditch along the road filled with slimy water and alligators today. Old maps show it was a pond with a stream outlet to Cypress Creek and the Hillsborough River, major transportation and communication routes in prehistory. It is no surprise that there are prehistoric human habitation sites around this last remaining small ditch! We have also talked with old-timers in the grounds department and elsewhere, who remember finding “arrowheads” (spear points) in that area of campus, especially during construction of various buildings there.

Does survey include digging? Subsurface sampling is enormously important, especially in the eastern U.S., which is often heavily forested. In the desert Southwest you can drive around and see the standing ruins of prehistoric pueblos. Many of these “windshield surveys” used to be done in the East, as well, by archaeologists looking for sites in plowed fields. But there is no substitute for seeing what is buried, whether there is cultural material on the surface or not. Methods of subsurface investigation during survey must be fast but careful. The shovel test is usually 50 cm square and a meter deep according to Florida state guidelines; it is easily dug in our soft sands, and the soils can be dry-screened by one fieldworker while the other is digging (show photos of shovel-testing and other methods). We can also take cores or soil probes, pressing or twisting a tubular device into the ground to see what comes out. Besides 1-inch and 4-inch diameter hand-coring tools, we have a gas-powered auger which drills into the ground, which can be even faster but more destructive.

What other technological devices must modern archaeologists use? Lately we must have a Global Positioning System (GPS) unit, which reads signals bouncing off several satellites to give exact locations in latitude/longitude or other coordinates. We also want to utilize Geographic Information Systems (GIS), which are simply computerized ways of making maps of different features that can be overlain to show relationships of natural and cultural features through time.

Once the site is found, how do you know what part of it to dig? Site survey and mapping can be done at several levels, from a rough sketch using a compass and pacing distances to formal mapping with a surveyor’s transit, electronic station, or other device. A typical local site here is a scatter of artifacts on the surface, but there may be a mound, concentrations of artifacts, a stream or hill, modern features such as roads, that all need to go on a base map. We often set up a site grid in uniformly sized squares so that everything can be precisely mapped in plan view and later in three dimensions. There are good examples in your book (pp. 91-93; show other examples of site maps).

After getting control of horizontal space, how does archaeology tackle vertical space? Excavation must be done with an understanding of stratigraphy, the stratification or vertical positioning of soils and other materials in layers or strata. The law of superposition dictates that the earliest strata are usually the deepest (but there are exceptions in disturbed strata such as riverbank flood deposits or deliberately constructed mounds—see diagrams in book, pp. 96-97). It is important to be able to recognize strata deposited by natural geological processes and cultural processes or both, but it may be difficult. Since we want vertical as well as horizontal control, we ideally want to excavate one stratum at a time without mixing them. This is not always possible if color, texture, and content differences are hard to see. In such cases we can still maintain some control by digging in arbitrary levels of a standard thickness, such as 10 cm at a time. Sometimes we might dig in smaller arbitrary levels of 5 cm within a thicker cultural stratum, for even tighter control. Or, for a really slow but careful dig, recording each and every find in three dimensions can be done too. A formal excavation unit can be as small as a meter square or as large as many meters. We usually dig in squares to be able to see a clean view of vertical layering. We usually use metrics since they are easier and more international, though some historic archaeologists may dig in units of feet and yards if the site is, say, a British fort that was laid out using those kinds of measurements.

What is soil flotation? Just a fancier way of recovering the smallest remains, it involves taking a standard-sized soil sample (we use 9 liters) and processing it not through the regular screen but through the flotation machine. This is a device, usually homemade, with a 50-gallon drum, a hose connected to a showerhead inside, and graduated screens within, as well as a very fine screen to catch bits of charcoal and other light materials that float to the top and out a spout. Much good information on food remains has come from soil flotation, which can recover seeds, fish scales, and other tiny remains lost to archaeologists in the past. A late prehistoric site we excavated in northwest Florida was transformed into a historic site when a tiny glass seed bead was recovered during flotation!

What methods are used in recording information from field survey and excavation? A plethora of field forms (show examples), field notes in waterproof ink on surveyors’ waterproof notepaper, photographs, maps, drawings, and other techniques are used. This may also include audiotaping and videotaping fieldwork. There can never be enough recording, and it is often very redundant. But since information is lost the minute things come out of the ground, it is crucial.

How much survey and excavation is enough? It depends upon the individual project. There is a big difference between a multiyear research project at a protected site and a salvage project where survey and excavation must take place in the path of proposed construction. American archaeologists, especially those working in cultural resources management, differentiate among the levels of investigation as follows: Reconnaissance survey usually involves walking around the project area looking for surface materials and doing the historical background work to see what might have been there and what is already known or found. Phase I survey is more intensive and involves subsurface methods such as shovel testing and writing a more comprehensive report. Phase II test excavation may be done after survey has identified the sites in an area, to place formal test units at those sites suggested to be significant. Significance is often difficult to define. It can be understood in local to international terms. A significant site will have undisturbed cultural deposits that have good potential to produce new information about a past people. This usually includes features, good intact midden soils, diagnostic artifacts, and so on. An internationally significant site will usually be a major monument. Phase II excavation can even include stripping off disturbed soils with heavy equipment such as a front end-loader to see if undisturbed features such as refuse pits or house patterns are present below.

Phase III excavations, also known as salvage or data recovery, might take place at the sites determined during Phase II to be significant but destined to be destroyed by whatever construction is planned. During Phase III more extensive excavation units are dug and as much information and material as possible is recovered, since this will be all that is retrieved from the site (usually) before it is gone. There is obviously the ethical consideration, again, of digging and thus destroying too much of a site if it is NOT destined to be disturbed or destroyed. Furthermore, it is always better to conserve instead of dig. Good cultural resources management strategies often involve working with those planning the construction to avoid site destruction. For example, after surveying and Phase II testing in the path of a housing development in Florida, we might find a few sites that are significant. We might persuade the developer to move planned buildings away from the site, change the design of the entire plan, or dump some loads of fill dirt over the site and preserve it as a park or green space, maybe even with an outdoor display describing the prehistoric people who once lived here (good public relations for the developer, as well!).

Prehistoric Lithic Artifacts in Mississippi: The Study (Part III)

2009-05-19T02:34:00.000-07:00

GLOSSARY

Flaked Lithic Artifacts found in Mississippi

Core and Flake: A core is the piece of material from which flakes are removed.
In the illustration it shows a flake removed from the core and flake scar left behind. All of the tool types shown below also have flake scars, but these are related to the shaping of the implement. A core serves the purpose of producing flakes that can be used as tools without further modification or flakes that can be further shaped into formal tools like those defined below.

Point: These are tools inferred to have tipped projectiles like spears, darts, and arrows. Many points served a variety of functions other than use a projectile including use as knives, scrapers, and perforators. As shown in the illustration, the size and shape of points is quite variable. This is partly related to function and style. The smaller two pints were used to tip arrows, while the other three were likely used thrusting spears or darts used with spear throwers.

Adze: These tool vary in shape and size, but generally have a steep bit and are often oval in shape. Adzes were used in woodworking activities, much like modern adzes.

Drill/Perforator: This tool type possesses a long tapered bit that is usually rounded or diamond-shaped in cross-section. They were often used in a rotary motion to drill holes into resistant material like wood, bone, antler, or stone rounding the tool margins. In addition, they were sometimes used as perforators. This would have involved piercing materials such as hide in task like the production of clothing.

Hoe: These tools are associated with the cultivation of domestic plants like corn. Hoes do not occur until prehistoric populations began to rely heavily on maize and other domesticated crops. These tools are almost always made of sturdy chert that outcrops in southern Illinois called Mill Creek chert. A heavy polish or sheen forms on the working edge of these tools. Archaeologist can identify flakes made from resharpening hoes because traces of this polish are still present on the back (dorsal) surface.

Gravers: These are sharp, beak-like protrusions made on flakes or other tools. Gravers were used to cut or engrave materials like bone or wood.

Scraper: These tools are characterized by a steep area of unifacial (flaked on one side) flaking. Scrapers are commonly associated with scraping materials like hide, bone, or wood. However, in some cases these tools were also used in cutting.

Ground and Battered Lithic Artifacts found in Mississippi

Axe: These are ground and polished tools used to chop trees and in other woodworking tasks. They can be grooved like the illustration or ungrooved.

Celt: Ungrooved or slightly grooved axe-like stone tool that has been shaped by grinding and polishing. The bit is bifacially beveled. They are often made from non-local coarse-grained raw material.

Gorgets: These items are ground and polished, and were probably worn around the neck or on the chest. Other possible uses include atlatl (spear thrower) weight or arrow wrist guards.

Plummet: Ground and polished implement potentially used as net weights, ornaments, or weight for bolas. These tools are primarily made of metallic rocks like hematite.

Discoidal: These are ground and polished round stones, sometimes with a drilled center, that were probably used in a game of skill called chunkey.

Pitted Anvil: These implements have one or more pecked out circular pits. These pits are usually formed by cracking hard-shelled nuts and or other rocks to produce flakes for use (bipolar flaking). Pitted anvils are usually made on coarse materials like sandstones.

Grinding Stones: This tool type is primarily formed through the grinding of plant materials creating one or more grinding facets. Coarse materials like sandstones are most commonly used for these implements.

Hammerstone: These tools were used to strike flakes off more brittle pieces of rock. Hammerstones are heavily crushed along used edges, and are commonly made of a sturdy material like quartzite.

An Archaeological Excavation In Aksum, Ethiopia

2009-05-19T02:12:00.000-07:00

The ancient city of Aksum wielded great influence over trade in agricultural produce, ivory and gold. Via the port of Adulis the Aksumites held trading prominence on both shores of the Red Sea and rose economically on the interchange with the Roman Empire. This city is located 2,200 metres above sea level on a flat plateau deep in the interior of Ethiopia on Africa's horn.

The Kings of Aksum once ruled the great African power of Ethiopia. Little is known of the ancient Aksumites and an archaeology excavation of the old city is an important source of relevant data.

Archaeology Excavations At Aksum

Although the first recognised archaeology excavations were begun in 1906 it was not until Dr Neville Chittick's expedition in 1974 that the deep tombs beneath the city were explored. Like most treasure-hunting expeditions the earlier work concentrated on the easy pickings of artefacts from monuments and elite cemetery sites. By the 1970's, Chittick, working with staff under the British Institute in Eastern Africa, was using scientific explorative archaeology techniques at Aksum.

However, the improved methodology did not mean that Dr Chittick would not follow his early colleagues in selecting archaeology excavation sites that favoured the upper classes of an urban city. Grand palaces, stately homes, substantial and significant tombs, and even church buildings have surrendered their artefacts once belonging to Aksum's elite groups. Excavations have proved to unearth almost no peasant dwellings or their accompanying artefacts.

The reason for this could be that the class gap between the elite and the poor was so great that the peasants owned or used very little objects or tools in their daily lives. A second suggestion is that the peasantry were not permitted to live in urban centres and their peripheral dwellings are yet to be uncovered.

In spite of the lack of distilled information about this archaeology site many objects have been recovered in excavations. Pottery, glass, stoneware and metalwork artefacts all reveal a great deal about Ethiopia's lost gentry class.

Pottery Artefacts At Aksum

Fine and coarse ceramic items have been located in very large quantities in archaeology excavations at Aksum. What interests archaeologists about Aksumite pottery is that it appears to have been made in a unique fashion without the influence of the chronology of foreign pottery traditions.

The predominance of the characteristic style of a lightly impressed decorative design with vertical corrugations combined with small impressions in a staggered fashion within diamond-shaped panels has led to the pottery being known as 'classical Aksumite'.

Many of the pots and bowls extant as artefacts have stamped impressions often in the form of a cross in many different styles. The Ethiopian Queen, Candice, permitted her royal treasurer to attend the Passover celebration in Jerusalem and he was present in the city during the crucifixion week. Ethiopia's Lord of the Exchequer is credited with bringing Christianity back to Ethiopia.

Red, black and white were popular pottery colours although the rare and more collectable is known as purple-painted ware. This brownish-purple paint was used in the later Aksumite period.

Most pottery objects appear to have been made for drinking, eating, storing and cooking but some unusual items were certainly used for special purposes such as holding cosmetics, personal care and ceremonial occasions.

Glassware Excavated At Aksum

The Aksum excavations have uncovered a variety of exotically coloured glassware that is not represented at any other site. Among the rich range of glassware artefacts located, the common vessels are clearly imported. It is unlikely that lower classes could have afforded glass items as the journey from Egypt or Syria by ship followed a long, troublesome uphill land trek to the interior would have made the item highly expensive at its destination.

Thin-stemmed goblets, long necked flasks and engraved bowls tend to indicate rather luxurious levels of living. In one of the great homes, oil burning glass lamps suspended by fine bronze chains provides further evidence of the comfortable Aksumite lifestyle.

Aksumites were not without fine glass jewellery. Glass was employed into bangles and necklaces incorporating leaves of thin gold.

Stoneware Artefacts At Aksum

In Aksum's Addi Kilte district a quantity of broken lithic pieces was discovered in archaeology excavations of rooms that appear to be one of the great mansion houses. Archaeologists who excavated the floor believe they were deliberately broken and incorporated into the foundation for the plaster floor. Although none of the items were found complete, reconstruction of the artefacts shows them to be finely made, lathe-turned, stone bowls of an exquisite purplish colour. Like the locally made pottery and glassware, nothing like these bowls is known from any other source in Ethiopia.

Metal Artefact Items At Aksum

The metal artefacts found at Aksum fall into two main categories:
1. Luxury Items
Items made from the precious metals of gold and silver include jewellery, delicate boxes, small ornamental objects, and even bowls. Figurines in gold, silver and bronze were also located.
Comparative to other major North African sites there has been little in the way of gold or silver artefacts discovered. What has been excavated is, not surprisingly, of an Eastern Mediterranean appearance, in view of the considerable trading links with that region.

2. Utilitarian Items
Items made from iron include tools and weapons. All of the basic equipment for labourers and soldiers has been identified such as knives, chisels, saws, and axes for the workers while spearheads and arrowheads are examples of their military resourcefulness.

The Rise and Fall of Aksum

Aksum boasts some monumental architecture unconvered by archaeology excavation. One hundred stone obelisks loom over the cemetery; the tallest at over 30 metres high weighs 517 tons. Aksum's high rate of literacy saw it flourish until, in the 6th century AD, the rise of the Persian Empire redrew the map of Asia excluding the kingdom of Aksum from its trading networks. Shortly thereafter, the great Ethiopian trading capital fell from world importance.

Artifacts, Archaeology and Cabeza De Vaca (Part III)

2009-05-18T02:57:00.000-07:00

Summary
Museum material culture appropriate to Cabeza de Vaca during his "trader" phase and his journey thence to the Rio Grande would include: arrow points (likely Perdiz, and perhaps Caracara at Falcon Lake), bone-tempered pottery (including restored or partially restored vessels at TARL and, from Choke Canyon, at the Center for Archaeologica Research at The University of Texas at San Antonio, "hide scrapers" (end scrapers) and beveled knives (bison processing equipment), large trade bifaces, manos and metates, mats (as among the Cuchendado, use Lower Pecos examples), bows and arrows, digging sticks, etc. (also derived from Lower Pecos collections but surely identical to what was in the south Texas interior). Photographs of the wooden mortars and pestles reported by Collins (1968) and Prewitt (1981) would be very appropriate, given Cabeza de Vaca's description of mesquite bean processing (the Collins and Hester specimen is from the Lower Pecos, and had prickly pear seeds in the mortar) on the Rio Grande. He clearly describes pestles, and mentions a "jar" which sounds much like the mortars that have been reported. Cabeza de Vaca in Northeastern Mexico.

When Cabeza de Vaca moves west from the Rio Grande, he entered territory that is still very poorly known archaeologically‹especially in Late Prehistoric times. No major excavations or studies have dealt with this terminal portion of the culture sequence in the region, and those that have, usually involved rockshelters (cf Hester et al. 1994)‹not part of Cabeza de Vaca's chronicle. Cabeza de Vaca's reference to rabbit-hunting sticks clearly refer to the "rabbit sticks" present in museum collections at the Witte and at TARL, from the lower Pecos and western Texas; doubtless, they are the same as he recorded in northeastern Mexico. However, there is a much discussed incident involving material culture that I would like to touch upon. This is the "copper" bell or rattle (described as "squat and wide;" M. Wade, personal communication, 1996) given to Dorante "at the base of the mountains" (Covey 1961:110; Ketchum 1988; Epstein 1991). Cabeza de Vaca relates that the gift-givers had obtained the artifact from the "north." This has led many to speculate that it is derived from Casas Grandes, the great trading and craft production center in Chihuahua studied by Di Peso (cf. Di Peso l974, who notes Casas Grandes trade networks reaching to La Junta de los Rios and other northern Mexico locales). It may have indeed come from there, but I suggest an alternate scenario. If the Krieger map is correct (cf Chipman 1987:143), this event probably took place south of Monterrey. This is only 250 miles from the Pavon site, on the Rio Panuco, in the Huastecan culture area. At this site, Ekholm (1944:478-479) reports and illustrates large copper bells (including one strikingly similar to a specimen from Casas Grandes, DiPeso 1974 510), and notes several others, including one in the form of a turtle (the one given Dorante apparently had a "face" or image on it) in the Huasteca. Indeed, Huastecan outposts in the Sierra de Tamaulipas, occupied at the time of Cabeza de Vaca (the Mesoamerican Late Postclassic) were within 100 miles! The Huastecans were very active traders, as seen in their interaction with the hunters and gatherers of the Brownsville complex in the Rio Grande delta, where obsidian, pottery, and jade is documented (see Hester 1995 for a detailed review). Further, despite all the ruminations in the various translations, could the "South Sea" and its riches not be the Pacific or the Bay of California . . . but the Gulf of Mexico with its Huastecan towns and traders?

Finally, I want to close with some observations on the material culture related to the famed "mouse-teeth" scarification event (Covey 1961: 113). It is hard to say where this took place, though Krieger's route suggests it could have been in the Big Bend area. Of particular relevance here is a basket and contents found at site 41VV171 in the 1930s and in the collections at TARL (see Figure 2). This has never been fully published, though it is sometimes called a "shaman's kit" or a "medicine kit." Among the contents are mescal beans (known hallucinogens) and a number of rodent (rabbit) mandibles. It is not hard to imagine these latter items being used for this type of scarification, especially in the scene described in the Cabeza de Vaca case. Though Cabeza de Vaca describes the event as one of parents' punishing a crying infant, one suspects that it is related to curing rituals. If so, such scarification appears not to have been the domain solely of a "shaman," (cf Ricklis 1994:416) but could be done by anyone. I do not want to stretch this too much, but simply point to this kit (or a photograph of it, again due to Native American concerns) as a possible exhibit item, given the mention of the scarification event and, of course, Cabeza de Vaca's role as a healer during much of his time in Texas and Mexico. (This text initially appeared in Windows to the Unknown: Cabeza de Vaca's Journey to the Southwest. An interdisciplinary symposium hosted by the Center for the Study of the Southwest at Southwest Texas State University, San Marcos.

Archaeology at Freshwater Sites (Part III)

2009-05-18T01:01:00.000-07:00

General Guidelines for Conserving Objects Excavated from Freshwater Sites

• Do not hesitate to ask for professional advice. Contact the John and Martha Daniels Laboratory (JMD) at the Minnesota Historical Society or a professional conservator in your area; telephone, (612) 297-5774. The American Institute of Conservation (AIC) in Washington, D.C. has a computerized referral service that lists AIC members who consider themselves qualified in specialized fields; call (202) 452-9545.

• Have a plan. Anticipate what types of objects and materials will be brought up. Plan to have the funds, equipment and supplies necessary to properly store and stabilize the objects.

• Know where the objects will end up for long term storage and/or exhibit. Contact the repository, if known, for their guidelines for storage. Make adequate provisions for proper storage supports and materials.

• Good archaeology is proactive. Contact a conservator before proper object care becomes a major problem.

• Provide adequate security for the objects, especially if they are in outdoor holding tanks.

• Take water samples and object materials to a conservator for testing, if at all possible. This will help establish the condition parameters and help to design proper treatments. It is usually easier to send samples than the objects to an out-of-town conservator.

• Keep wet materials wet. Try to maintain the objects’ environmental equilibria.

• Monitor the water quality in the holding tanks regularly for mold growth.

Note: Electrolysis is usually not necessary for metal stabilization. “Traditional” methods for treating marine objects are not always directly applicable to objects from other environments.

Trade axe head found in 1960 at Horsetail Falls with the nested kettles. The steel blade edge has annealed to a wrought iron body. Wrought iron and steel is stable in fresh water

Some Definitions

CONSERVATION is the profession that is devoted to the preservation of cultural property for the future. It includes examination, documentation, treatment, and preventive care, supported by research and education.

TREATMENT is defined as the deliberate alteration of the chemical and/or physical aspects of cultural property, aimed primarily at prolonging its existence and preserving as much inherent information as possible.

STABILIZATION denotes treatment procedures that are intended to maintain the integrity of cultural property and to minimize deterioriation.

RESTORATION denotes treatment procedures that are intended to return cultural property to a known or assumed state, often through the addition of non-original material(s).

A CONSERVATOR is a professional whose primary occupation is the practice of conservation and who, through specialized education, knowledge, training, and experience, formulates and implements all the activities of conservation in accordance with an ethical code such as, but not limited to, the AIC Code of Ethics and Guidelines for Practice.

Prehistoric Lithic Artifacts in Mississippi: The Study (Part II)

2009-05-17T01:23:00.000-07:00

How do archaeologists identify what activities produced lithic artifacts or the tasks in which they were used? This is a difficult and at times complicated task, but models explaining how stone artifacts were produced and used have been and are continuing to be developed primarily through written records describing modern hunter-gatherers who still use/used stone tools and scientific experimentation. The modern-day production of stone artifacts has helped archaeologists understand what kind of debris or waste is left behind. In addition, modern replicas can be used to do certain task like butchering a deer, so that the use-wear produced on the experimental tool can be compared with artifacts. These kinds of studies allow archaeologist to identify how certain prehistoric stone tools were used. In addition, the design of stone tools can provide clues about the people who made and used them. A good modern example can be made between a plastic set of disposable utensils, a fine set of silverware utensils, and a Swiss Army knife containing a fork, knife, spoon, etc. These sets of utensils can all be used to eat, but the situations in which they are used are different. Like people today, prehistoric groups made tools that fit their lifestyle, so groups practicing very different lifeways should possess tools of differing design.

The final question that was listed above is what clues do lithic artifacts provide concerning the lifeways of the people who produced and used them? In fact, many of the clues archaeologists use to answer this question have already been presented. We already know that a prehistoric group’s territory can be partially understood through looking at where the lithic materials originated, activities that stone tools were associated with can be identified through comparison with modern-day replicas, which allow inferences concerning site function to be made, and the shape of the tool can help in determining how old it is.

Archaeologists around the world use artifacts, including lithics, to reconstruct a variety of cultural jigsaw puzzles that represent views of the past that are not recorded in any history book. In Mississippi and other regions, trying to piece together the past is a difficult task because so many sites have been destroyed by modern development and farming. Another factor in the destruction of archaeological sites is the undocumented collecting of artifacts, like “arrowheads”. If certain data are not recorded, such as artifact provenience, much of the information embedded in these artifacts is destroyed. So, if you are interested in archaeology and lithic technology, get in touch with an archaeologist in your area for guidance to insure that you are not damaging the prehistory of Mississippi.

A glossary of lithic artifacts found in Mississippi is provided, including illustrations. The glossary is very general including only a sample of the lithic artifact types recovered from the state. For those of you interested in lithic technology, here are a few references on the subject.

The Glosary... will be on the next post...

Artifacts, Archaeology and Cabeza De Vaca (Part II)

2009-05-16T03:33:00.000-07:00

Cabeza de Vaca in the Interior

Cabeza de Vaca's activities on the margin of the coastal prairies, and then his journey through the interior to the Rio Grande raise several archaeological issues. For example, references to subsistence activities are of interest. While with the Mariames on the lower Guadalupe River (we assume), Cabeza de Vaca and his colleagues where involved in the processing of pecans. This may have involved ground stone manos and metates, or even the use of stone pestles. Alternatively, they may have used wooden mortars and pestles of the sort reported ethnohistorically in Nuevo Leon in the 17th century by Alonso de Leon (Brown 1988; see also Beals 1932), and archaeologically, from the lower Pecos area by Collins and Hester (1968) and Prewitt (1981). In addition, the harvesting and processing of tuna, the fruit of prickly pears might have involved similar gear, or just an earthen pit.

It is of great interest to me that when, in 1532, Cabeza de Vaca and colleagues are involved in the summer harvesting of prickly pear tuna, there is no mention of pottery, which would have been ideal for the storage of beverages made from tuna juices (cf Krieger 1956:53); indeed, he mentions a "lack of vessels" for the juice from the tunas. Either this is specific only to the group with whom Cabeza de Vaca's was associated, or his route across southern Texas was a bit farther south than the "southern route" currently suggests. I can say this with confidence in that the peoples of the southern Texas interior had begun making bonetempered pottery, including olla forms as early as A.D. 1200 1300 (cf. Hester 1980:126; Highley 1986) and continued making this ware through the Late Prehistoric and during the time they were residing in the 18th century Spanish missions. Pottery was being made as far south as Alice, and clearly north of a line running from Dimmit County down to Alice and eastward to Baffin Bay. Thus, the map of his journey might be more accurately drawn as running south of Alice (per Campbell and Campbell 1981 : Figure l) - or his route took a decided southern turn per Wells and Davenport (cf. Chipman 1987:131). I doubt the latter is the case as the Wells and Davenport route would have put the castaways in the South Texas Sand Sheet area, a patch of south Texas that Cabeza de Vaca would have surely remembered ! Indeed, if Cabeza de Vaca was among the Avavares, whose territory included the legendary great prickly pear fields, he would then have been in Webb, Duval and southern Jim Wells County, south of the pottery-making peoples.

While among the Avavares, Cabeza de Vaca was told of the myth of Mala Cosa, the Badthing. Among his deeds was the use of a "flint knife two palms long and a hand wide" (Covey 1961:90) to inflict wounds on hapless individuals. There is no raw material in southern Texas that would have allowed the Avavares to even envision a stone tool of that size (the Uvalde and Rio Grande gravels used for points and everyday tools are relatively small cobbles). A description of such a massive biface may reflect what we see archaeologically in the region, and that is the presence of large, thin bifaces ("knives") that have been traded into the region from the Edwards Plateau (e.g. Taylor and Highley 1995, Hester and Barber 1990). [Such specimens are in both the Witte and TARL collections.] Cabeza de Vaca's projected entry into Mexico near what is today the Falcon Reservoir district is probably accurate. We are just now learning about the Late Prehistoric peoples in that region, and are literally awaiting receipt of radiocarbon dates on several burials (with associated grave goods) that might shed new light on the people of that region in the 16th century (cf. Hester 1995). It should also be noted that this area, especially Starr, Zapata and Jim Hogg Counties, has a high density of prickly pear, but little in the way of creeks or other surface water (Hester 1981). This area and the area to the east could have been the territories of the Avavares (at least seasonally), and certainly the Arbadaos (Campbell and Campbell 1981), and the dire descriptions of their subsistence, during Cabeza de Vaca's eight months in the monte , would certainly fit with the settlement pattern and low-density resource modeled that I have put forth for the region [Hester 1981; why Covey (1961 :92) equates this locale with the Texas "hill country" is indeed a mystery]. Cabeza de Vaca's stay among the Cuchendados (Campbell and Campbell 1981:393 on the Rio Grande demonstrates his adaptation to life in the region (Wade 1996) and his skills at making items of material culture, such as mats, which were greatly prized as house coverings in what appear to have been at least a couple of sizable villages. Cabeza de Vaca offers other insights into subsistence that have archaeological implications. He notes bison in the area of the Mariame (which Covey for some inexplicable reason places in the area of Austin), and clearly there were bison at this period on the coastal prairies (cf. Hester and Parker 1970, Ricklis 1996). He also points to the fact that the Mariame and related groups ate practically everything. This is borne out by the long lists of faunal remains at Late Prehistoric sites in the region (e.g., Black 1986, Highley 1986; Hester and Hill 1975). It is intriguing that he notes the pulverization of bone, to reduce these materials to bone grease to be mixed with other foods. This is a well known practice among southern California Indians (Bean 1972:66). However, faunal remains are so extensive and so well preserved at most Late Prehistoric sites in south Texas that this technology must have been used either with certain species or at certain times of the year (or, in cases of famine/ hunger). Krieger (1956:53) reports that snails (land, or prairie snails; Rabdotus sp.) were also eaten, though I cannot locate this reference in the published translations. Campbell (1983) also reports the eating of snails by the Mariame while they were in the tuna fields. The archaeological evidence is overwhelming in terms of snail consumption. Along the central and southern coast, on the coastal prairies, and into the interior, Late Prehistoric sites have abundant land snails in the middens. Some archaeologists attribute their presence to the scavenging activities of land snails, but this is a facile argument that ignores the archaeological data (e.g., their association with hearths and food processing areas; cf Scott 1982; Black 1986, Highley 1986); if the snails got incorporated into the middens as casual scavengers, then they have clearly changed their feeding habits in South Texas since late prehistory (Hester 1995)! Snail shells are so common at sites in Starr and Zapata Counties, the territory of the Arbadaos (and Cuchendados?) that archaeological sites can be easily recognized during survey‹while riding in a truck‹by the glistening white sheen of the mass of snails eroding out of the sites (Nunley and Hester 1975).

Cabeza de Vaca refers to digging of roots, this would have been done with digging sticks, of the kind that survive today only in dry caves (e.g., examples from the Lower Pecos caves in the Witte Museum collections). He also describes the use of earth ovens for cooking roots. Archaeologists working in the region have not conclusively identified such pits, though there are a variety of hearths, including charcoal and rock filled features that might have served in this fashion (as at Choke Canyon, Scott 1982, Hester et al. 1975 report deep rock filled pits from McMullen County that were clearly earth ovens). While Cabeza de Vaca disparages the Indians' use of fire to burn off the prairies, this was a widespread practice in Texas and the Great Plains. Archaeological evidence of such activities is, of course, hard to come by, though McGraw (1983:91) recorded thin lines of charcoal in excavation profiles near Laredo that might reflect such activities. I have always been bothered by Cabeza de Vaca's descriptions of hunger, famine and low quantities of food just about everywhere he went (these descriptions have been embellished; cf. Krieger 1956). This simply does not fit with the archaeological evidence, in terms of faunal remains (animals, fish, marine or freshwater shell, snails, etc.) that occur in sites in the area where he must have traveled. Perhaps his eight months in the monte in the south Texas interior reflected seasonal variations in food availability as recorded by Alonso del Leon (Brown 1988). Or perhaps he was there in a time of drought; having just been in the area currently suffering from a significant drought, I can imagine the shortage of resources he encountered. Or perhaps his descriptions reflect his bias as a European who had to subsist on unfamilar and distasteful foods. The settlement pattern described for the Mariame and associated groups, to be near wood and water, fits what is seen for the placement of prehistoric occupation sites in the region [Cabeza de Vaca later contradicts himself by noting that the Indians "have no familiar places for getting water" (Covey 1961: 83). Perhaps here he referred to groups deeper into south Texas, where creeks and water sources were indeed fewer (the low-density zones described by Hester 1981). The brevity with which the sites were occupied likely suggests repeated occupations over the years, again fitting with the "settlement zones" seen in the areas of higher density resources in the region (Hester 1981). Some sites were apparently occupied long enough for houses, albeit flimsy ones, to be set up. Archaeological evidence for such houses is limited to a few postmolds or trash distribution patterns from a few sites (cf. Black 1986: 266).

The Summary will have to wait for another post...

Archaeology at Freshwater Sites (Part II)

2009-05-16T01:12:00.000-07:00

Chemical Considerations

Although freshwater does contain dissolved minerals, we do not have to contend with the large amount of chloride ions that are in sea water. Chlorine is particularly troublesome with metals such as iron and copper because of its strong negative charge, which gives it a strong attraction to positively charged metals. When combined with an electrolyte solution such as sea water, this strong attraction sets up galvanic electrical currents that lead to corrosion and metal loss.

In freshwater, metals combine with oxygen and other dissolved anions (electrically charged particles) such as sulphates and phosphates. The biological activity in freshwater is different from that in seawater and there is no precipitation of the calcium carbonate that leads to the massive concretions that occur on marine objects. One corrosion problem that does occur with metals in freshwater is increased galvanic corrosion, which happens when two dissimilar metals are indirect contact. (See the picture of the copper kettle.) When copper and iron are in direct contact, the iron corrodes preferentially, becoming what is termed a sacrificial anode. This kettle is from an inland submerged riverine site, at Horsetail Falls of the Granite River, in the Gunflint Trail region of Minnesota.

The iron handle of this copper kettle has completely corroded, but has left the iron minerals from the corrosion products behind on the copper surfaces.

Water-logged organic materials such as wood, leather, and other fibrous materials can be very fragile, while appearing to be in good condition. Do not be fooled by appearances! If allowed to dry out completely without special treatment, these objects will be destroyed with little hope for restoration. Valuable historical and archaeological information will be lost forever.

The conservation of water-logged organic materials requires extensive knowledge of chemistry and currently available practices, and often requires specialized equipment and supplies. Treatment is often slow, and can be expensive. It is for these reasons, and others, that it is best to leave these objects where they are. If that is not possible, then contact a qualified conservator to help with detailed recovery and conservation plans and specifications.

“Put it back”

An option that is somewhat akin to the conservation philosophy is the current “put it back” movement among well-meaning avocational and professional underwater archaeologists. Although it sounds simple and effective enough at first look, this is not necessarily the correct option in all cases.

Particularly with organic objects, re-submerging them after they have dried or been treated can spell disaster. Water-logging them again will cause stresses in and between fibers and structures that have already been weakened first by the previous water-logging,
then by the equilibration to the air. Treatments may have introduced chemicals into the materials that make them water-resistant and have changed their density. Metal objects will be less affected by putting them back into water, but there are still risks and questions to be answered. These include: Is the object structurally stable? Will the increased pressure affect it adversely? Is the environment to which it will be returning the same over all as when the object came out, or have certain parameters changed?

It would help answer the questions we have about putting objects back on sites if we had a body of data on objects that have been put back so far. Written and photographic documentation of the bjects, with as much recovery and treatment history as is possible, will help conservators assess and analyze the effects of resubmergence on objects.

This article may have raised more questions than it has answered. Wet and water-logged objects pose complicated problems, but the stories that they can tell us are invaluable historical resources. Cooperation among all interested and involved parties can go a long way in solving some of these problems.

General Guidelines will have to wait for another post...

Recording work at Baile Sear from Access Archaeology

2009-05-15T05:28:00.000-07:00

Access Archaeology work to explore the island's archaeological sites and provide better access to and interpretation of sites. Access Archaeology are an active group based in North Uist. They are currently the only Shorewatch group in the Western Isles. The group became involved with the Shorewatch project immediately after the hurricane of January 2005, during which archaeological sites had been uncovered and damaged all around the west coast of the island. The area of Baile Sear, in particular, was hard hit. Since then, the group have undertaken several training sessions in archaeological recording, and are monitoring and recording the remains of a prehistoric eroding site at Baile Sear beach. The recording of this site is ongoing and is valuable 'hard evidence' of the constant erosion of the site.

This is a plan of some of the eroding stone structures at Baile Sear. The site appears to be a prehistoric settlement. This was recorded in August 2005 by the group. The site included remains of cellular structures, as well as a hearth, which can be seen towards the centre of the drawing.

This plan shows the gradual erosion of the Baile Sear site. Green represents the erosion of the site between August and September 2005, blue represents the erosion of the site between September and December 2005, and black shows the coast edge and remaining archaeological features at the beginning of December 2005.

Four months on, in December 2005, the group returned to the site to record it again. This plan shows how 3-4 m of archaeology had been lost to erosion in the meantime. Note the large curving wall (marked in blue) which has appeared in section.

Members of Access Archaeology Shorewatch group planning the site in August 2005.

Several orthostats forming curved or semi-circular stone settings can be seen across the site.

The site is a low mound which rises above the beach at Baile Sear.

Modeling Native American Use of Recessional Shorelines

2009-05-15T01:42:00.000-07:00

Abstract: KEA Environmental employs GIS technology to analyze a variety of environmental data, including geology, hydrology, biology and archaeology. This paper shows how KEA applied ArcView and 3-D Analyst to model a 700 year record of changing lakeshore configurations. The results helped describe the prehistoric environment and explain Native American settlement patterns. GIS simulations allowed the analyst to visualize the rising and falling levels of Lake Cahuilla, which formed at times when the Colorado River flowed west into the desert rather than into the Gulf of California. In addition, volume calculations can be useful in describing water quality.

Problem Statement

Archaeologists working in California (and many other places as well) have a problem. They want to study patterns of human behavior that occur in seasonal or yearly cycles, but they typically do not have chronological controls that allow them to sort their data to such a fine scale. Prehistoric archaeology in California is heavily reliant on radiocarbon dating to provide a chronological framework. Unfortunately, radiocarbon dating is not precise, typically yielding an uncertainty factor that far exceeds a prehistoric person's life expectancy. It is as if a cabinet-maker attempted to measure a board with his car's odometer. All too often the archaeologist is like the unfortunate craftsman: his tools for measuring time are not equal to the task. Occasionally, however, circumstances do occur that yield clearer snapshots in time.

Human behavior always has a spatial dimension, and sometimes the spatial dimension is chronologically organized. In such a case spatial analysis using GIS can provide improved chronological control - a better measuring rod. And, sometimes, this control is of sufficient precision to allow the prehistorian to see time on a truly human scale. Rapidly changing recessional shorelines along Lake Cahuilla in California's hyper-arid Colorado Desert provide such an opportunity. At various times in prehistory, much of the Imperial Valley was covered by the waters of Lake Cahuilla, a huge lake that advanced and receded in response to the changing course of the Colorado River (Figure 1). When the lake receded, prehistoric people followed the shrinking shoreline, leaving traces of their camps as they went. Investigating these camps, we found that GIS can be extremely useful in modeling the complex relationships between humans and this rapidly changing environment.

Figure 1. Regional Map

History of Lake Cahuilla

Our study area lies in the northwestern portion of the Colorado Desert, a subdivision of the Sonoran Desert which occupies large portions of southeastern California, southwestern Arizona, and much of northern Mexico. The dominant physiographic feature of the Colorado Desert is the Salton Trough, a roughly 130 mile long, 70 mile wide desert basin that forms the landward extent of the Gulf of California. The bottom of the trough, now occupied by the Salton Sea, is at more than 250 feet below sea level exceeded only by Death Valley as the lowest and most arid region in the United States. Clearly, the periodic appearance of a huge body of fresh water in such a rigorous environment (Figure 2) would cause radical changes in the resource base for humans throughout the region. At its maximum stand of 5,700 square kilometers and 96 meters deep, this lake would not only have provided a source of fresh water in one of the world's most arid regions, but would also have supported a wide variety of plant and animal resources as well.

Figure 2. Panorama of Colorado Desert along Lake Cahuilla Recessional Shorelines

Prior to modern flood control measures, Lake Cahuilla would form when the Colorado River diverted its flow into the Salton Trough from its normal course into the Gulf of California. This occurred when the meandering channels along the north side of the river's delta occasionally cut through their natural levees and flowed down the steeper gradient to the northwest toward the Salton Trough instead of the Gulf. This caused rapid head-cutting and enlargement of the channel, and eventually captured the entire flow of the river. Once it began, there was little to stop this flow until the entire basin filled to a point 40 feet above sea level. At this point the lake stabilized by flowing back into the Gulf through an outlet channel near Cerro Prieto, Mexico. Eventually, the channels at the delta would meander back to the southeast and the lake would begin to evaporate.

Figure 3. Chronology of Late Prehistoric Lake Cahuilla

The most widely accepted chronology for the stands of Lake Cahuilla (Waters 1983) identifies a series of four lakestands occurring over the past 1,500 years (Figure 3). The first is thought to have begun at about A.D. 700 and ended around A.D. 940, with full desiccation. The second interval is not directly dated but based on estimated sedimentation and evaporation rates is inferred to have occurred sometime between A.D. 940 and 1210, again with complete desiccation. The third interval is thought to have begun around A.D. 1210, with a partial recession to about -130 feet below sea level at about A.D. 1430. At this time the lake began to fill again, initiating the fourth interval; this interval is estimated to have terminated around A.D. 1540 based on sedimentation and evaporation rates, as well as the lack of any direct observation of the lake by Spanish explorers traveling through the area after that time. More recently, a fifth interval has been proposed based on archaeological data from a site on a recessional shoreline. This is believed to have been a partial infilling occurring sometime between A.D. 1516 and 1659 (Schaefer 1994).

The Salton Sea Test Base Data

Our work on the recessional shorelines of Lake Cahuilla was related to the upcoming closure of the U.S. Navy's Salton Sea Test Base, a roughly 10-square mile facility located on the lake's southwest shore (Apple, et al. 1994). As part of the closure, the Navy was required to fund a complete inventory of the facility for cultural resources, as well as a subsurface testing program to determine which sites are eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. The archaeological inventory of the base revealed a surprising number of prehistoric cultural sites, some 166 in all. Of these, nearly half contained hearths, rock enclosures, and artifact assemblages that suggested that they were the remains of temporary camps, indicating this area to have been fairly heavily occupied during certain periods of prehistory. An extensive suite of radiocarbon dates indicated that nearly all of this occupation took place between the AD 1640 and AD 1740 (Cleland 1999).

Figure 4. A Rock Enclosure at Salton Sea Test Base

The most prominent features of the habitation sites are the rock enclosures (Figure 4); we found nearly 200 of these on the base, occurring singly or in clusters of up to a dozen or so. Typically, these features circular or semi-circular in shape, and are constructed of forty or fifty sandstone slabs stacked one to three courses high, with a well-defined opening on the east side, away from the prevailing winds. Excavations at more than 100 of these enclosures indicated them to be the centers of domestic activity at the camps: most contained charcoal and fish bone, and were generally surrounded by small scatters of artifacts. Also of interest in the investigations were sandstone features thought to have been used as fish traps (Figure 5). These are "v" or "u" shaped arrangements of sandstone, usually several meters long and always oriented with the narrow end downslope. It is believed that fish were driven into them, or went in to spawn, and were caught using nets and baskets. Unlike the rock enclosures, the fish traps must have been directly associated with the shoreline at the time they were used.

Figure 5. A Probable Fish Trap at Salton Sea Test Base

The archaeological data from the SSTB indicated pretty clearly that the occupations of the sites within the project area were fairly short in duration, and focused directly on the use of the receding shorelines. With the help of GIS, patterns in the distributions of the habitation areas and fish traps begin to emerge, and their relationships with the receding shorelines in this area can be seen more clearly.

GIS Analysis of Shoreline Sites

While in the field, KEA's archaeologists used a Sokkia submeter GPS instrument to map the precise location of each site. After completion of the survey, each rock ring and fish trap was plotted using ArcView. As can be seen in Figure 6, some clustering of locations is immediately apparent. A linear configuation and a small cluster are indicated as examples. But overall, it is not easy to determine which sites were utilized contemporaneously and which represent a time series of occupations. We wanted to know: were all sites used at the same time, or were only a few used each year?

Figure 6. Distribution of Archaeological Features at Salton Sea Test Base

The archaeological evidence was pretty clear on some things. Sourcing of raw materials used in the manufacture of pottery and flaked stone tools indicated that Native American groups with access to the peninsular ranges to the west occupied the Salton Sea sites; the low quantity and diversity of the artifact assemblages indicated that occupation was typically brief. Groups came down from the mountains or mountain canyons seasonally to fish and to process their catch for transport and storage. After a very brief stay, they would move on to other subsistence resource patches (Apple, et al. 1997).

We hoped that radiocarbon dating would help sort out our sites chronologically. And, it did to a limited degree. We were able to identify three distinct periods of Late Prehistoric occupation, contemporaneous with the recession of periodic stands of Lake Cahuilla. One site dated to a recessional interval between the second and third lakestands about AD 1200 and two sites dated to the recessional interval between the third and fourth stand probably around AD 1460. But, the vast majority of the sites dated to very late fifth infilling that has only recently been identified, probably after AD 1640 when the first Spanish explorers passed through the area.

Dated sites from the last lakestand range in elevation from 90 feet below sea level down to 190 feet. But site distributions suggest a broader range in our area from -50 to -210 feet. Radiocarbon dating could not sort these sites into a dated sequence, so we wondered whether spatial analysis could. All indications suggest that this final lakestand was quite short-lived. A previous investigator calculated that, without replenishment from the Colorado, the lake level would recede due to evaporation at 5 to 6 feet per year (Laylander 1994). If so, our final period sites might cover a span of only thirty to forty years.

Spatial or locational analysis in archaeology generally assumes that archaeological site locations were originally selected on the basis such important variables as ease of access to resources, shelter, defendability, and length of occupation. Fish trap features obviously must be located in shallow water. The rock enclosures, which were used as temporary shelter and for drying fish, are not as constrained with regard to location. Since we have good reason to believe that the rock enclosures were utilized over relatively short periods of time, perhaps only a few days to a few weeks, they would be considered expedient features and would most probably have been sited primarily on the basis of access to resources. Three resources appear to have been most critical - access to fish, access to fuel for smoking the fish, and access to sandstone slabs for fish traps and rock enclosures. Fuel would have been available most abundantly in desert washes; however, there is no apparent clustering of fish processing features along washes, so we can discount this factor. Sandstone is relatively abundant, and it does appear that low sandstone ridges were preferred locations of fish processing camps. Finally, we come to access to fish - the shoreline. Given that sandstone ridges are relatively ubiquitous, it seems reasonable to assume that access to the shoreline was the driving force in site selection. Thus, seasonal camps were located on or adjacent to sandstone ridges in close proximity to fishing locations along the shoreline. Each year as the lake shrank the distance to the shoreline would increase unless fish camps were moved downslope. At some point it would be most economic for returning fishing groups to occupy a new site rather than reuse the previous one. We don't know if this happened yearly or every few years. But the point is that sites lying at the same elevation may well have been utilized contemporaneously, while those at substantially higher or lower elevation would probably have been older or younger respectively.

GIS helps us visualize (or model) the project area as the water slowly receded exposing more and more dry land for human utilization. One cluster of rock enclosures occurs between -30 and -50 feet on a relatively regular, northeast facing shoreline (Figure 7). For our purposes, we'll call this Year One because this is probably the first fishing camp in the survey area associated with the final lakestand, but undoubtedly similar camps occur at this elevation in unsurveyed areas to the northwest and southeast. Four to five years later, the first fish traps appear along the -70 foot lakeshore (Figure 8). These traps are located just below several rock enclosures, indicating a fishing/fish processing camp. Another probable fishing camp is indicated by a rock enclosure a little over a mile to the southeast. The shoreline at this time is still relatively regular and northeast facing.

Figure 7. Modeled -50 Foot Shoreline with Archaeological Features

Figure 8. Modeled -70 Foot Shoreline with Archaeological Features

As time goes on the number of rock enclosures increases, suggesting that Native Americans were intensifying their fish procurement activities. By about Year 12, we find three distinct clusters of rock enclosures and associated fish traps along the -110 foot shoreline (Figure 9). Interestingly, at this time we have two sets of fish traps in the same vicinity that appear to have been only one year apart in that they are separated by 5 feet in elevation, the estimated yearly recession of the lake. It is also noteworthy that a north-facing embayment is beginning to become apparent. This embayment appears to have created an especially good fishing location for several years inasmuch as at three or four possible time-seriated camps appear along a peninula that juts northward into the receding lake. This embayment continues to be a prominent feature in the vicinity through -160 feet, suggesting a ten to twelve year period during which the embayment was a favored fishing area (Figure 10).

Figure 9. Modeled -110 Foot Shoreline with Archaeological Features

Figure 10. Modeled -150 Foot Shoreline with Archaeological Features

During the life of this embayment, the use of fish-traps appears to have been abandoned in our project area. It is not clear at present whether this is due to declining fish yields, or perhaps to the introduction of a new fish-procurement technology/strategy. Or, perhaps it is due to changing shoreline characteristics that made fish traps less productive (Figure 11). It is true, however, that as the use of fish traps was given up, the overall intensity of occupation of the project area appears to have declined. To demonstrate this, we used the analytic capabilities of GIS to generate counts of fish traps, rock enclosures, and other Late period features in twenty foot elevational intervals, and then divided these counts by the length of shoreline exposed in the survey area. This gave us the frequency of each feature type per km of shore.

Figure 11. Modeled -190 Foot Shoreline with Archaeological Features

Analyzing our point data in this manner proved to be a challenge for our GIS operator. She imported USGS Digital Elevation Model files for two quads into ArcView and converted each file into a Grid, using applications within the Spatial Analyst extension. She then created a mosaic of the Grids using an ESRI extension called Transform Grid and recreated the topographic contours using Spatial Analyst. A major challenge was imposed by the fact that the contours are line layers, but point data such as our sites can only be clipped to polygons. ArcView and Spatial Analyst enabled her to avoid the 20 hours or more of work that it would have taken to redraw polygon shapes along the contour lines; AVENUE expressions were used to select contour intervals in 20-meter swaths. Each selection was then converted into a shapefile. Twelve separate shapefiles were created in this manner, and the site data were clipped to each using the Geoprocessing Extension. The compiled data were then exported to dBase IV and Excel for further analysis.

The results of these efforts are summarized in Table 1. First, looking at the middle column we see that the frequency of Late period features per unit of shoreline increases steadily until it reaches a peak along the -110 and -130 foot shorelines and then declines fairly rapidly. Importantly, during the four intervals where fish traps were present, we also find our highest frequencies of rock enclosures. These data indicate first that fishing was probably best in the project area during the time that the lake surface was between -70 and -130 feet. This period may have only lasted a decade or a decade and a half. We do not know if the decline was due to declining productivity of the fishery or simply the shifting of procurement activities to new favorable places located elsewhere along the shoreline. Studies similar to this one of additional areas along the recessional shores of Lake Cahuilla would be necessary to answer this question. We do know that a relatively intensively used Late period camp was located five miles south at the Elmore Site, excavated by Caltrans archaeologists (Laylander 1994). This site is located at -180 feet and thus would have been under-water during the height of utilization of the Salton Sea Test Base. The Elmore site is adjacent to San Felipe Creek a potential source of freshwater. This makes us wonder: was water quality within the lake declining so as to encourage the creation of a larger encampment near a water source? More research would be necessary to answer this question, but GIS can also help in addressing changes in water quality by allowing us to calculate lake volumes with a high degree of accuracy.

Table 1 Density of Late Prehistoric Features along Lake Cahuilla Shorelines
Shoreline Elevation (ft. amsl)	# Late features	Late features per km	Fish traps per km	Rock Enclosures per km
-30	1	1.4	0.0	1.4
-50	7	2.2	0.0	2.2
-70	20	6.6	2.6	4.0
-90	19	3.8	0.6	3.2
-110	41	10.7	1.3	9.4
-130	33	7.1	1.3	5.8
-150	32	3.7	0.0	3.7
-170	30	2.2	0.0	2.0
-190	22	2.0	0.0	1.9
-210	5	0.6	0.0	0.6

Lake Volume

In modeling human use of the shorelines of Lake Cahuilla, it is useful to accurately calculate the lake's volume at different levels. One way in which accurate volumetric estimates are useful is that they allow us to calculate the rate at which the lake filled, by using known values for evaporation, precipitation, and Colorado River flow. This in turn will help us to model the settlement of the submaximum lakeshore during transgressions, and to help establish the timing of lakestands, particularly the hypothesized fifth last infilling during the fifteenth century.

More importantly, good volumetric estimates will eventually allow us to more accurately model a number of important parameters of the lake's recession. Since the lake's recession is controlled mainly by evaporation, this will be a more linear progression with respect to elevation, and has been estimated at about 5 to 6 feet per year on average. However, the lake's salinity during recessions is controlled by changes in the volume of the water in the lake. As the lake volume is reduced by evaporation, dissolved salts, which do not evaporate, are increasingly concentrated in the remaining water. At a certain point, the water becomes too salty to drink, restricting the occupation of the shorelines. Later on, the lake will not support the freshwater mussels that are so common in sites along the maximum shorelines. Eventually, the lake's abundant fish resources decline and eventually disappear entirely. Since increasing salinity during recessional episodes is controlled by the reduced amount of water in the lake, estimates of volume at specific points is critical to modeling salinity and its effect on human use of the shorelines.

Previous calculations of the lake's area and volume have been based on counting the number of square miles covered by the lake at various contour intervals (Laylander 1994). While careful application of this method has provided fairly good "ballpark" estimates, the use of GIS for these estimates is clearly much more accurate and less cumbersome. Calculation of the lake's volume at specific contours is a fairly straightforward procedure using GIS derived values for the area of the Salton Basin at specified contour intervals. For example, at its maximum extent at the 40-foot contour, these calculations show the lake surface encompassed 1,279,363 acres and that it contained some 191,462,187 acre feet. Halfway through its recession, at the -150 foot contour, it encompassed 436,170 acres and contained 37.066,095 acre feet.

The values of the lake's volume can then be used to estimate infilling times employing (1) known values for the flow of the Colorado River during the 19th and early 20th centuries; (2) values for average yearly precipitation in the Salton Basin; and (3) values for yearly evaporation in inches (Laylander 1994). Assuming full capture of the Colorado River's flow, these values may be used to arrive at a filling time of 17.5 years for the lake. The volumetric values can then be applied to Laylander's (1994) volume-based salinity curve for the lake's recession. Although subject to a variety of complicating factors, this simplified model suggests that beginning with a salinity at the maximum stand equal to that of the historic Colorado River (322 ppm), the water would become distinctly salty to the taste by the 21st year of the recession, and the salinity of seawater would be reached by the 49th year.
Conclusions

The rapidity of Lake Cahuilla's recession after the Colorado River was rediverted to the Gulf of California offers a unique opportunity to study a prehistoric culture with a fine-toothed chronological comb. The analytical capabilities of GIS are critical to this endeavor in that they allow us to develop models of how archaeological sites might relate to each other in time as well as facilitating the study archaeological sites in relationship to landscape variables. Also of value is the ability to model transgressions and recessions volumetrically, yielding a better understanding of water quality and suitability for human occupation. Now that we have our data in GIS we will be able to use modeling approaches to evaluate alternative scenarios of the interrelationships of archaeological sites and the environment over time.

References

Apple, Rebecca McCorkle, Andrew York, Andrew Pigniolo, James H. Cleland, and Stephen Van Wormer. 1997. Archaeological Survey and Evaluation Program for the Salton Sea Test Base, Imperial County, California. Prepared for U.S. Navy, Southwest Division, San Diego. KEA Environmental, Inc., San Diego.

Cleland, James H. 1999. From Paleoindian to Protohistoric: The Chronology of Human Occupation of Salton Sea Test Base. Proceedings of the Society for California Archaeology 12:10-19.

Laylander, Don. 1994. Phase III Data Recovery at the Elmore Site (CA-IMP-6427), Imperial County, California. On file, Caltrans District 11, San Diego.

Schaefer, Jerry. 1994. The Challenge of Archaeological Research in the Colorado Desert: Recent Approaches and Discoveries. Journal of California And Great Basin Anthropology 16(1):60-80.

Waters, Michael R. 1983. Late Holocene Lacustrine Chronology and Archaeology of Ancient Lake Cahuilla, California. Quaternary Research 19:373-387.

Prehistoric Lithic Artifacts in Mississippi: The Study (Part I)

2009-05-14T01:03:00.000-07:00

Kevin L. Bruce

A lithic artifact represents any stone object modified by humans. Archaeologists studying prehistoric and historic Native Americans commonly identify several general types of lithic artifacts including formal tools, ornaments, cores, flake debris, and fire cracked rock (see glossary). In Mississippi there are three basic lithic technologies (flaked, ground, and battered technologies). Flaked stone technology involves the fracturing of fine-grained rock like chert or quartzite, so that fragments or flakes can be produced. These flakes are sharp and can be used in a number of tasks like cutting meat or scraping hide. In addition to producing flakes that can be immediately used and discarded (expedient tools), prehistoric people would also shape cobbles or large flakes to produce tools that are typically used longer and more intensively (formal tools). An example of a formal tool is what most people refer to as an “arrowhead”. Archaeologists refer to these tools as points, because they were used to tip an arrow, spear, or dart, but the term arrowhead is not used since not all points were used with a bow and arrow. Some other kinds of flaked tools found in Mississippi include scrapers, gravers, drills, knives, hoes, and adzes. These tools were used in a wide variety of tasks like hunting, preparing hides, butchering prey, making ornaments, farming, and woodworking just to name a few. Ground stone is commonly made from coarse-grained rock like sandstone and formed by grinding associated with the preparation of plant foods like corn. Other types of groundstone are not formed by use associated with food processing, but by intentional grinding. Some examples include ground axes, celts, stone beads, gorgets, discoidals, and plummets. Most of these tools and ornaments were made on rock that does not flake well, so the prehistoric stoneworkers would use abrasive materials like sand or other coarse stone to shape these materials through grinding. Battered stone was made on durable, coarse stone and used as hammerstones to flake fine-grained rocks like chert. Another use of battered stone was to crack hard-shelled nuts like hickory nuts. These tools often have depressions formed on their surface and are called pitted anvils or nutting stones.

On most archaeological sites in Mississippi, lithic artifacts form the bulk of cultural materials recovered. This is largely due to the fact that organic materials like wood and bone are not commonly preserved on archaeological sites. In the region, the only other artifact class resistant to decomposition is pottery, however; pottery was not adopted until around 2,500 years ago in the region. Since current archaeological evidence indicates that people have been present in the area for at least 12,000 years, a large portion of the prehistoric record consists entirely of lithic artifacts. As a result much of what archaeologist discover about the distant past is based on the study of lithic artifacts.

How do archaeologists learn about the prehistory of Mississippi by studying lithics? Well like modern-day detectives, archaeologists use lithic artifacts to provide clues concerning the environment in which they were produced and used. Common questions archaeologists ask when studying lithic artifacts include: 1) How old are these stone tools? 2) Where did the rock come from? 3) How were these artifacts produced and in what activities were they used? 4) What clues do lithic artifacts provide concerning the lifeways of the people who produced and used them? All of these questions are important because, if solved, they provide information that helps archaeologists reconstruct how prehistoric peoples lived. In order to answer some of the questions listed above, archaeologists must recreate certain activities, like the production of a stone tool, so that it be can understand what the artifacts they recover represent. This is similar to forensics specialists who use experimental simulations to interpret many pieces of evidence recovered from a crime scene. Detectives may not apprehend the culprit at the crime scene, but they do have clues left behind that can be used to identify the guilty party. Archaeologists are not searching for criminals, but they also use clues, like the waste flakes or debris created when Native Americans were making or repairing their stone tools, to identify what prehistoric groups were doing at a site.

Let’s talk about the questions listed above. First, how can stone tools be used to date a site? Well certain tools like points are known to change stylistically over time, as does many parts of our culture today, so they are considered diagnostic of a time period. Archaeologists have used the law of superposition to order stone tool styles over time. The law of superposition says that the older artifacts are deposited first, therefore, they should be found below more recent artifacts. When archaeologists excavate stratified sites that contain thousands of years of materials they apply the law of superposition to identify which tool style occurred first. This only provides a relative date that says which tool style is older than the other, but through use of radiocarbon dating archaeologist have been able to identify an actual date range during which certain tool styles occurred. Chronological information obtained through diagnostic artifacts is very important because archaeologists study how cultures changed over time.

How do archaeologists in Mississippi know where the rock used to make stone tools came from, and what information does this provide? Fortunately, most rocks used to make stone tools are distinctive and can be related to a general area. Many archaeologists have samples of rocks from all over Mississippi and surrounding states, so that they can be compared with artifacts to determine their place of origin. What does this tell an archaeologist? Well it can help archaeologists understand how large a group’s territory might have been, since many prehistoric groups moved around quite a lot. For example, if a site only contains locally available stone it suggests that the inhabitants of the site were primarily based in that area, whereas if a site contained a good bit of rock from a source 100 miles to the west and another source 50 miles to east, it is likely that the group that left these artifacts occupied this 150 mile stretch of territory over the course of a year. In addition, the presence of rock from very distant sources might indicate that a group was involved in exchange with other groups outside their immediate area.

How do archaeologists identify... will be on the next post...

Archaeology at Freshwater Sites (Part I)

2009-05-13T05:21:00.000-07:00

by Paul Storch

Introduction
In this article I can only give a brief introduction to the conservation of artifact materials from freshwater archaeological sites. I say “freshwater” rather than “underwater,” because there are significant differences between conservation of objects from a marine, or salt water, environment, and conservation of objects from a freshwater environment, such as Lake Superior and most Minnesota rivers. Treatments developed for marine sites may be unnecessary and uneconomical at best, and do irreversible damage at worst.

The field of archaeological conservation is evolving rapidly from its roots in classical restoration and chemistry into a specialized applied science; we need further development of methods specifically suited to freshwater sites and information exchange at conferences such as the shipwrecks conference.

Under the Water
The major types of materials found on most Great Lakes shipwrecks from the 19th through the late 20th centuries include inorganic (e.g. iron and brass) and organic materials. Most organic objects are made of wood, but often other organics, such as leather, and textile fibers, such as wool and cotton, are preserved.

The key concept to remember with archaeological materials, whether they are buried in the ground, submerged in the water, or buried in submerged sediments, is that these objects have equilibrated with their burial conditions. That is, deterioration has progressed to a certain point and then stopped, or the rate has drastically slowed down.

Well pulley from Fort Snelling, ca 1820-30s; wrought iron is in direct contact with wood. The iron is heavily corroded and the wood is swelled. It is not possible to dismantle objects such as this to attempt to treat the components differently without destroying the object and its integrit

If the equilibrium conditions are maintained in the burial environment, then the materials will remain in a state of preservation. If something happens to disturb the equilibrium— such as archaeological excavation or a natural change, like a drastic drop in waterlevel—the materials will begin to reach equilibrium with the new conditions. This results in renewed deterioration, which in the case of metals can mean the formation of additional oxides, and for wood the loss of water and resultant shrinkage and cracking.

The logical extension of this concept in practical terms is that one must be prepared—with the proper methods and supplies—to re-create as closely as possible the equilibrium after excavation and removal from the burial environment. Failure to do this is the antithesis of ethical conservation practice, and inevitably leads to the loss of information at the least, and total loss of the object at the most.

Chemical considerations will have to wait for another post...

Artifacts, Archaeology and Cabeza De Vaca (Part I)

2009-05-13T03:46:00.000-07:00

In Southern Texas and Northeastern Mexico

By Thomas R. Hester

Introduction

Of all the various routes published for Cabeza de Vaca over the past century, none make any sense, in terms of the archaeological record, except those of Krieger (1961) and Campbell and Campbell (1981). This route (see also Chipman 1987: 143,145), hereafter referred to as the "southern route," (Figure 1) takes Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca and his group from the upper and central Texas coast, across southern Texas, and into northeastern Mexico. Since the archaeological record of this region has existed for only a few decades, earlier scholars could not have made full advantage of the Cabeza de Vaca chronicles in considering the various alternatives for the route. Even today, we can push the "southern route" a bit further south than Krieger, Campbell and Campbell because of what Cabeza de Vaca did not record‹and what we have learned archaeologically about the region in the past 30 years. Most importantly in this planning document, and in the Witte Museum/ Southwest Texas State University planning meetings, we can be fairly confident of this "southern route" and use it to predict the kinds of cultures and cultural materials that Cabeza de Vaca encountered. Then, appropriate artifacts and archaeological cultures can be selected from extant collections for interpretative exhibits.

Cabeza de Vaca and Coastal Native Groups

Based on the recent archaeological studies by Robert Ricklis (1994) on Galveston Island, new insights can be added to the initial phase of Cabeza de Vaca's capture and subsequent movements among coastal peoples. There is little doubt that the Narvaez expedition, of which Cabeza de Vaca was a member, was shipwrecked on Galveston Island or a nearby area of the upper Texas coast. The descriptions of the peoples they encountered match closely the archaeological remains found by Ricklis, though they are perhaps broadly representative of upper coastal cultural adaptations in the early 16th century. Cabeza de Vaca records the use of the bow and arrow, fish weirs or traps and a heavy reliance both on fish and roots during fall and winter on the island. Special mortuary treatment was reserved for children and for "medicine men" (who were cremated). Though the current political situation prevents us from utilizing, in a museum exhibit, any burial materials, Ricklis found that most grave goods were lavished on adult males and children. One adult burial contained what Ricklis (1994:476) describes as a "rat-tooth bloodletting instrument," which he infers to be a "shaman's possession," albeit not with a cremation. If one looks at the Cabeza de Vaca chronicle, the reference to the use of such an item in bloodletting involved a child (probably in northern Mexico or in the Southwestern United States), and the bloodletting, with the use of "sharp mouse teeth" (Covey 1961: 113) was apparently not done by a shaman or medicine man. I will return to this matter at the end of this paper. Ricklis' excavations also produced examples of dwellings (postmold patterns and artifact concentrations) that would be more in line with a long-term occupation by a sizable group of up to several hundred people, perhaps in the fall-winter situation described by Cabeza de Vaca, although he did not specifically describe their houses. Whether these peoples were Karankawa, Akokisa, or some other group, they are more complex in term of social organization and belief systems than Cabeza de Vaca recorded. Clearly, some of the domestic artifacts dating to the early 16th century from Ricklis' excavations, now housed at the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory [TARL], at The University of Texas at Austin would be especially appropriate for exhibit. These include arrow points and other stone tools, bone and shell artifacts, and pottery (Covey 1961:55 notes that an "earthen pot" was one of the objects stolen from a native hut on the island; a recent translation of Cabeza de Vaca by Maria Wade of the UT Austin Department of Anthropology indicates that this "pot" was an olla) In addition, reconstructions of house floors (postmold patterns) and food processing areas (hearths) could be done. As I noted above, use of burial goods or even photographs of burials/burial goods would likely result in complaints from Native American groups.

It is during Cabeza de Vaca's presence among the coastal groups that we learn the most about material culture, especially the kinds that survive archaeologically. This is the role of trader that Cabeza de Vaca begun in 1530 when he lived among the "people of Charruco" in the coastal zone south of Galveston Island. Much has been written about Cabeza de Vaca's role as a trader (e.g., Corgan 1969; Wade 1996), but here I will focus specifically on the material goods that he exported and imported, and what that tells us archaeologically. Wade (personal communication, 1996) in her translation of Cabeza de Vaca, indicates that the items he took with him from the coast were: pieces of "sea snails" (conch or other gastropods) and their "hearts" [here, he must be referring to the columella of the conch, widely prized as a raw material], and shells to cut a fruit-like bean with which they cure and make bailes and fiestas [this "bean" would not have survived archaeologically, though a discussion of the identify of this vegetal item would be important].

With these goods, Cabeza de Vaca was able to travel into the interior, apparently crossing territories without conflict. I think this is the result of a trading system of great time depth in southern Texas, in which he just happened to get involved. There is ample archaeological evidence, on which I have written a number of times, of prehispanic trade in southern Texas (cf. Hester 1971a,b, 1980,. 1995). Once in the interior, he traded his coastal goods for the following items, again based on Wade's recent translation: "skins," "red dirt with which they grease and paint their faces and hair" [hematite or red ocher], chert (pedernales) points of arrows, hard cane to make arrow shafts (flechas). glue, and "some tassels which they make of skin of deer and dye red."

Cabeza de Vaca's trading endeavors closely match the archaeological record of the central Texas coast and southern Texas, perhaps even into central Texas and the lower Pecos. Covey's (1961) suggestions of his incursions going into East Texas and Oklahoma can be discounted. The Texas coast was without chippable stone (chert or "flint") and since Archaic times, there is ample evidence of south and central Texas cherts being obtained by coastal peoples to make spear and arrow points. This may have even accelerated in Late Prehistoric times, roughly the era of Cabeza de Vaca, when bison hunting became important on the coastal prairies‹and thus the need for more chert for arrow points, end scrapers, knives, and perforators (Hester and Parker 1970) Chert of pretty good quality is available on the lower Nueces and the lower Guadalupe 15-50 miles upstream from the coast (Chandler 1984). Red ochre or hematite appears in coastal burials (e.g., Hester 1969), as well as in those on the coastal/interior ecotone, such as the Archaic cemetery at Loma Sandia (Taylor and Highley 1995). Skins, arrow shafts, and tassels have left no archaeological trace. I am not sure what "glue" the coastal peoples desired from the interior, perhaps sap from mesquite or similar trees which make a good mastic, however, they had available, and had used since at least 600-800 B.C., asphaltum that washed up on the beaches, and which could be melted and used as an adhesive.

In the interior, marine shell is present at many sites (cf. Hester 1971 a,b, 1980, Black 1986; Highley 1986). Indeed, ornaments of marine shell imported from the Texas coast are found as early as 5800 years ago at the Bering Sink mortuary site in Kerr County (Bement 1994). Marine shell usually occurs as scattered specimens, especially conch shell fragments, conch columella (often made into either tools or disc-shaped beads), and fragments of ribbed cockle shell such as Dinocardium robustum. Here again, it is my distinct impression that the very late Late Prehistoric peoples had more of this material, as at the Hinojosa site near Alice (Black 1986) and site 41LK201 on the Frio River west of Three Rivers (Highley 19860). An alternative to trade would be interaction between coastal and interior groups; Ricklis (1996) has suggested contemporary cohabitation of a coastal margin site, 41RF21, and perhaps during such events, trade would have taken place. But given the time depth of such trade in the interior of south, central and lower Pecos Texas, I suspect that some other mechanism led to an intensification of exchange in the Late Prehistoric. Certainly once shell artifacts had been obtained by interior groups, they could have been "redistributed" through trade during the annual prickly pear harvests.

Cabeza de Vaca in the Interior will have to wait for another post...

Buckling Down for Conservation in Albania

2009-05-12T04:05:00.000-07:00

As a conservator for the Lofkënd Archaeological Project for the last three seasons, I usually spend my time conserving materials excavated from the tumulus. This year, I also worked on materials from the Lofkënd Survey Project to help the Lofkënd team understand the use of the areas around the tumulus and identify possible sites. Mostly pottery and tile fragments were collected, as well as lithics. Two pieces, however, made their way to the lab for further cleaning and reassembly.

One find consisted of two fragments from the handle of a vessel. Fellow conservator Alma Bardho got right to work cleaning the fragments and joining them together using an archival acrylic resin. Though only the handle of the vessel was found, it’s of interest because the fabric of the ceramic is similar to Iron Age matte painted vessels and fragments found at the Lofkënd tumulus.

I have been working on a belt buckle believed to possibly be from the Ottoman period. The buckle was found in an eroded area near where we were surveying. It is made from a copper alloy and has an organic decoration. The recesses of the decorated area were filled with colored opaque glass — orange, blue, green and white. The buckle is very beautiful and ornate, and I jumped at the chance to clean it.

Because the buckle was in such good condition, it didn’t need a lot of treatment. The metal was not very corroded and only required light cleaning with wooden sticks and a scalpel. The glass has suffered some weathering and appears somewhat flaky in areas, but overall was in fairly good condition. Cleaning these areas was a little tricky because they are so delicate, and it involved very slow and gentle swabbing with ethanol and water to soften the soil on it. The buckle has taken a little longer to clean than expected, but is certainly worth the time when you see the vibrant colors of the glass after the soil is removed. Time is running out on our project and the conservation lab will soon have to be packed up, but I hope to have the treatment completed before then so the piece can be photographed by the project photographer before it is packed for storage.

Vanessa Muros, UCLA
Staff Research Associate in the UCLA/Getty Master’s Program in the Conservation of Archaeological and Ethnographic Materials

The Archaic of Thailand (Part II)

2009-05-12T02:22:00.000-07:00

The second day of our trip started in Kanchanaburi, where we headed north towards U-Thong, another Dvaravati site. Before we got there, though, we turned down a small side road until we came to a school with a small building off in the corner.

The small building turned out to be a museum, however it was locked. The key was, fortunately, with a person at the school on the same grounds. It turns out that there had been an excavation, and a small museum had been erected to house the artifacts found. Unfortunately, it is unclear just who is responsible for the museum, so it has not been kept up very well. However, we were able to handle some amazing artifacts that the man from the school simply handed around. One was a bracelet approximately 2,000 years old. While the decrepit state of the facilities was lamentable, the opportunity to be that close to history was incredible.

We next traveled to U-Thong. Like many Dvaravati sites, it was surrounded by an irregular moat. The ruins of this chedi (above) were actually on the outside of the moat, surrounded by urban development (as it probably had been for centuries). There is more to be discovered here, but most of it is occupied by squatters, making it difficult to access.

The museum at U-Thong is very much worth the visit. I was doubly impressed because they allowed us to take photos. They have excellent examples of Dvaravati art, including some incredible rare bronze Buddha statues.

Continuing on our tour is like moving forward through the centuries. In Suphanburi, the moat around the old city is almost rectangular, much like later moated cities. Wat Pra Si Rattana Mahatat was once the central temple of the complex, with a Khmer style prang still visible at the back of the current temple complex. Much of the complex relief work can still be seen on the visible plaster.

While at Wat Pra Si Rattana Mahatat, we were fortunate to be able to view an ordination ceremony--one of the happiest moments in a man's life. The entire community comes together for these festivals, and it is a joyous occassion. This parade was traveling clockwise around one of the temple buildings--I believe it was the viharn. The ordination candidate was being carried around beneath a large umbrella, throwing out candy and lucky coins (little 1 Baht coins with a ribbon tied on).

We continued our journey to two temples: Wat Pratu San and Wat Makham No. These temples both contain excellent examples of Lao, Thai, and Chinese influences in the murals all along the inside walls. The primary artist was a displaced Lao brought back from wars in the east in the late 18th, early 19th centuries. He was brought here to work, where he found his brother was also working nearby. Together they both created works that are still admired today.

Our last visit was to Wat Pa Lelai Worawihan, an ancient temple still in use. Much of the temple is new or reconstructed--including this seated Buddha which was built where, it is believed, an ancient Buddha statue once sat. It is, today, one of the most recognizable symbols of this region, and draws a plethora of pilgrims and tourists at all times of the year.

Carved into the plaster of the walls to either side were this monkey and elephant, reverencing the Buddha. These two animals are apparently a common symbol in Buddhist temples.

With nothing more on the itinerary, we returned to Bangkok and the modern world. This has truly been an incredible trip, and I am sure you will here of many more in future posts.

Archaeologists find artifacts (3700 B.C. to 600 A.D.)

2009-05-11T06:44:00.000-07:00

During a three-month dig at Miraflores Park, east of Brackenridge Park, in San Antonio, Texas, a team of archaeologists has discovered artifacts that date from 3700 B.C. to 600 A.D. The dig was conducted by the UTSA Center for Archaeological Research (CAR).

CAR researchers were hired by the San Antonio design firm Rehler Vaughn and Koone to conduct an archaeological site inspection before construction of a pedestrian bridge over the San Antonio River from Brackenridge Park.

“We found a lot of Early Archaic materials from approximately 3500 B.C., which are of significant interest, including two Guadalupe tools that were used either for woodworking or the defleshing of hunted game,” said Jon Dowling, CAR project archaeologist.

“It was a really small area that we expected would be open and shut quickly, but it turned out to be a treasure chest of archaeology,” he added.

According to Dowling, the artifacts will be curated and analyzed so CAR researchers can quantify and synthesize the data for better comprehension and understanding.

The discovered artifacts include an Ensor projectile point (spear point) from the Transitional Archaic period (200 B.C.-600 A.D.), Tortugas projectile point (spear point) from the Middle Archaic period or earlier, Early Triangular projectile point (spear point) from the Early Archaic period (3700-3600 B.C.), and remnants/segment of an historic relief dam used to stop flow into the old San Antonio Water Works Raceway (dam built circa 1877 or 1878.)

Losari Temple, Indonesia (Part II)

2009-05-11T04:06:00.000-07:00

With only a finding that perwara temple is small it makes the team's research, whether in the surrounding areas there is still another temple, or only a single temple. To answer the problems in the year 2008 conducted research stage II. This research is still working with the Foundation as Tahija donors. Based on the experience of years ago to reduce the obstacles in the implementation of the activities - especially the number of water in the rainy season - the phase II study was conducted during the dry season. Research was conducted over 20 days from the date of 5 to 28 August 2008.

However, in the implementation of this research, Archeology Center of Yogyakarta does not stand alone, because there are various institutions that competent on this site. Therefore, in the research reveals Losari Temple Sites Phase II, also involves a variety of institutions, such as: District of Magelang - in this case the Office of Culture and Tourism of Magelang Regency - as the most competent as the owner of the location of the site and as the parties that will take advantage of the existence of the Losari Temple site. Involvement of Culture and Tourism Office Regency of Magelang also supported by the Culture and Tourism Office Province of Central Java. Central Conservation ancient heritage of Central Java based on the basic tasks and functions very competent to save, preserve and restore the Losari Temple. Department of Archeology at the Faculty of Cultural Sciences of Gadjah Mada University as an institution of great academic competent to develop the science through research, notably with the discovery of the new site.

Central Conservation ancient heritage of Central Java with the cost of the installation itself has been doing re-roof the perwara temple's components that had been found. With the discharged of the roof then the temple has been back to the original habitat. Although not perfect yet, because there were some stones of the roof of the temple had not been found yet, especially the top of it, but the form of the temple has begun to appear vertical. The research team of Archeology Center of Yogyakarta supported by students and lecturers of Archeology at Department of Archeology at the Faculty of Cultural Sciences of Gadjah Mada University started the excavation. The involvement of students and lecturers of Archeology is funded by the Office of Culture and Tourism of Central Java, who is also finance the making of the film about Losari Temple.

It is not easy to dig up the excavation boxes because the land is very hard. It takes perseverance, patience, and hard work to be able to reveal Losari temple. Not necessarily for the digging to get the results expected. The first five failed to get results, although the determination of the location of the box has been using geoelectric survey. Failure is not sour and discourage the members of the research team. Boxes in the new lay out and began to be extracted one by one. Apparently they do not struggle vain, in the box on the P22 depth 145 cm appeared a piece of stone cross north-south, that is the bottom of the relief from the usual. The findings are part of the threshold on the second perwara temple. It has raised new hope to be able to find other temples (the third perwara temple and the main temple).

Finally, one by one the parts of the main temple and the perwara temple start to appear. After the second (middle) perwara temple started to show the door entrance, the third (south) perwara temple also began to appear, but the front of the dogs already. Temple perwara third (south) is found in the P28 and P30. Estimated the third perwara temple has the same size. After the third perwara temple was found then the main temple could be found more easily. It is usually located in front of the middle perwara temple. The part of the main temple began to be found, the first stone temple ruins found in the P29. After the box had been dug deeper and eventually extended to the south then the wall structure of the building was found. It was the body wall of the main temple in the east of the entrance of the left temple. On the wall is found mahakala relief, one of the gods guard the entrance of temples. Besides the P31 found in the structure of the body wall of the main temple or the back of the west main temple and the temple on foot. With the two sides found the body temple and the top of the foot temple temple parent's area can be estimated. Body temple is squares shaped with an estimated 360x360 cm² width, while the foot temple is 500x500 cm² width. So the problems have been solved, Losari temple is a Hindu temple, which consists of a main temple and 3 perwara temples. That have not been found successful in this research is the surround fence.

The Archaic of Thailand (Part I)

2009-05-10T06:12:00.000-07:00

Siam Society trips are organized around Asia and elsewhere, and can be simple daytrips to 3 week tours. There, we can get a chance to visit the ruins of an ancient 6th century civilization, and handle a 2,000 year old bracelet.

The first ruin was the ruins of Wat Phra Men in Nakhon Pathom. Likely built in the 7th century in the Dvaravati style, it was later abandoned, along with the rest of Nakhon Pathom. The four seated buddha statues that would have adorned four alcoves in the central prang, or tower, appear to have been moved to other temples. Bricks were later taken to rebuild the chedi or Wat Phra Pathom, and much of it was looted by robbers. Still, a considerable amount of artifacts were uncovered by archaeologists in the early 20th century, but they were removed from the site and now reside at various museums.

We went to Chula Pathon Chedi, near the center of the old moated city of Nakhon Pathom. There were actually two Pathon Chedis--this was called 'Chula' because it appears to have been much smaller than 'Phra' Pathon Chedi. It has been built and rebuilt several times, and the additions, usually extending the base, can clearly be seen in places. While researching this chedi, a series of bas reliefs were found that had survived the ages--some had been covered by later additions, while others had been simply been covered with dirt and sediment over the centuries. This is still an active archaeological site, and there had been a dig going on only a week before we had arrived.

Phra Pathon Chedi has long been in use, but only recently 'discovered'. The old structure was covered in earth and hidden, and only the new prang-style chedi at the top was visible. Excavations have uncovered the actual brickwork, and in some instances you can clearly see where the newer brick was laid over the old.

Our last stop in Nakhon Pathom was Wat Phra Pathom, one of the oldest Buddhist sites in Thailand and now one of the tallest chedi in the world. The current structure was actually built by King Rama IV, and is built over the old chedi, like a shell. Because of its size, engineers had to build a slight slope into the rising walls to support the weight, and beneath it all are support beams linked with a giant iron chain to help spread the load evenly in all directions. This is one of the most visited pilgrimage sites in Thailand, and it houses a museum of archaeological artifacts from around the region.

We continued up the road to Pong Tuk, in the Tha Maka district. This unassuming site, with its remains of a laterite brick structure, has yielded some important--if potentially controversial--finds for the understanding of Thai history. One such find are these:

They have been called 'stone bells', and have been hung like this for display. Some archaeologists--our guide among them--posit a different theory. You see, in the 6th century, much of inland Thailand was actually part of a large bay. Slowly the bay silted up through deposits left by the rivers flowing in from all sides. In its day, however, there would have been major shipping lanes throughout what is now inland Thailand. Charting out the various Dvaravati sites on top of this extended bay, one sees that most of them sit along the edges of the water--likely for the obvious purposes of fishing and trade. These large stones, left over when the waters receded, were likely boat anchors, similar to ones found in the Mediterranean. The concept of drilling a hole through a stone and then using it as an anchor or anchorage point is not new, and may explain these large stones.

This was also the site where archaeologists found a rare Roman or Byzantine lamp (experts disagree, though the 6th century Byzantine provenance seems much more likely, in my opinion). Apparently it was found in two separate pieces by villagers, who didn't Together with evidence such as 3rd century Roman coins, marked with Victorinus, it shows the extent of trade in the early centuries of the first millenium. We saw a replica of the lamp in the treasure storeroom of a nearby temple.

Our final destination on the first day is at Prasat Muang Singh, in the modern province of Kanchanaburi. After passing through one more archaeological site and museum at Ban Kao we hit the westernmost outpost of the Angkorian Khmer Empire of Jayavarman VII. Built in the Angkorian style of laterite stone during the 13th century, it was probably built to express the power of the Khmer kings on their western frontier.

King Jayavarman VII spread Buddhism to all corners of his empire, and is responsible for perhaps building more Buddhist temples of the Khmer style than any other king. It was not, however, an entirely altruistic gesture, for Jayavarman VII used himself as the model for the statues of the Buddha which he sent out. Thus, he used these constructions to express his power and rule throughout his kingdom.

While Khmer structures often used laterite, the buildings in Angkor, at the heart of the kingdom, covered most exposed sections in carved sandstone. The structure at Prasat Muang Singh was more likely covered in plaster. The relief above would have been the rough carving, with the plaster used to create a more detailed image. I would guess that plaster would have been cheaper--being on the edges of the empire, it would not be expected that the king would exert as much time or resources. This is shown in tremendous detail with a later structure behind the main complex:

While Khmer structures were usually very symmetrical, this later structure shows obvious errors, with many of the rooms being offset slightly--possibly due to an error on the part of the engineers. Such lapses are probably indicators that the knowledge of the building techniques were being lost on the fringes of the empire, corresponding with a general decline in the Khmer empire's power in the outlying regions. Soon, the local Thai people--the Siem or Siam--would begin to carve out their own kingdoms in places like Ayutthaya and Chiang Mai.

That evening we returned to Kanchanaburi, to a hotel on the Kwai river--yes, the one from the movie. The famous bridge was just down the river (Ellen went down to get the shot the next morning). From there we headed up to U-Thong and Suphanburi, but that will have to wait for another post...

Archaeology at Colonial Williamsburg

2009-05-10T03:08:00.000-07:00

by Meredith M. Poole

Excavation has been talking place at Colonial Williamsburg since 1928. In that year, a group of laborers was set to work exposing the foundations of the Capitol building at the east end of Duke of Gloucester Street. This single excavation, motivated by architectural interest, was the first of now hundreds of projects that would restore this town to its eighteenth-century appearance, and would eventually lead researchers to a clearer understanding of the lives of those who made their homes here.

With more than 75 years of excavation now behind us, and with Colonial Williamsburg, by all outward appearances, a “finished product,” it would seem safe to assume that all of Williamsburg’s archaeology has been completed. In fact, this is nowhere close to true. Only an estimated 10 to 15% of the ground within the Historic Area’s 301 acres has been fully excavated. This statistic speaks not only to the labor-intensive nature of archaeological excavation, but more importantly, to the evolving goals and techniques of excavation as they have been practiced in Williamsburg for the last 75 years.

Looking backward, the history of excavation at Colonial Williamsburg can be separated into three phases. While these divisions are primarily related to changes in leadership, there are distinct goals and methodologies that accompany each (see detailed descriptions below). The first phase is defined as the reconstruction of Williamsburg as a town, a period during which more than 300 buildings were reconstructed based on physical evidence, adding to the 88 structures that survived from the eighteenth century. The hallmark of the second period was the introduction of open-area, stratigraphic excavation, a technique that spelled the difference between the “excavation” of the first phase, and the advent of “true archaeology” in Williamsburg. The third phase is characterized more as an evolution than as a new disciplinary direction. During these years, with the aid of new technology and a comparative approach, the archaeological evidence of the second phase was expanded upon, and new areas of research were opened.

Excavating an entire town is an enormous undertaking, and there will opportunities for visitors to visit archaeological sites in Williamsburg for a long time to come. You might not, however, see archaeological excavations each time you visit. This is because archaeologists, particularly in a protected town such as Williamsburg, are guided by a conservation ethic. Sites are excavated only when motivated by challenging research questions, and only when there is adequate funding not only for the excavation, but for lab work, artifact conservation, and report writing. Conservation also demands that sites, or portions of sites, be “banked,” or saved for a time when new questions or better technology might yield superior results.

In the meantime, the goal of archaeological excavation is to produce a representative sample of eighteenth-century Williamsburg: to excavate properties at the commercial (east) end, as well as some of the more gentrified “urban plantations” on the northwestern side of town; sites once occupied by the affluent, and tenant sites; sites where trades were practiced as well as domestic sites. Overarching this mission is a commitment to filling in gaps, particularly toward understanding the lives of Williamsburg’s large, enslaved African and African American population.
The Earliest Phase: 1928-1958

During the earliest phase of excavation in Williamsburg, the goals and methods were simple, straightforward, and so architecturally-oriented that today we self-consciously avoid calling the work “archaeology” at all. Excavation between 1928 and 1958 focused entirely on the problem of finding the physical remains of Williamsburg. Although eighty-eight buildings survived from the eighteenth century, almost four times that number had fallen into disrepair and been razed over the course of the ensuing centuries.

The job of locating these structures fell to the large number of unemployed laborers that the Depression years had to offer. (Although there was generally no trained archaeological supervision on sites trenched during this early phase of excavation, there was one notable exception. The Palace excavation was overseen by Prentice Duell, an archaeologist trained in Egypt. Under his direction the Palace cellar was divided into 19 separate “excavation areas,” and fill from each was screened for artifacts. Additionally, Mr. Duell called a forensic expert (Dr. Aleš Hrdlička) from the Smithsonian Institution to examine the burials in the west garden. On a few other sites it appears that some of the cross-trenched soil was screened as well.)

These men were set to work “cross-trenching,” a technique that involved lining individuals up along the edges of a property and instructing them to dig trenches one shovel blade wide (about one foot), and one shovel handle apart (about five feet), starting from where they stood and continuing to the opposite side of the property. When brick foundations were encountered, the workmen trenched around them, allowing an architect and a draftsman to draw what remained and to determine whether the structure dated to the eighteenth century.

Cross-trenching proved to be a very successful means of locating building foundations. It was quick and relatively inexpensive, making it the “discovery” method of choice not only in Williamsburg but also on other prominent sites, such as Jamestown Island. By the late 1950s an estimated 75% of the Historic Area had been cross-trenched, and the job of reconstructing the physical town was nearly complete. Yet something was missing.

While trenching turned out to be an excellent means of fast and accurate reconstruction, the technique did little to reveal the lives and activity that made Williamsburg a vibrant eighteenth-century town. One of the primary problems with the technique was that artifacts—the evidence of those lives and activities—were not collected with any sort of regularity. Although excavators saved between one and three 15-by-28-by-15-inch boxes of artifacts per property, most of the items were architectural fragments—locks, hinges, bits of marble mantle—that were considered useful for the purposes of reconstruction. Workers also collected an assortment of unusual objects that caught their attention, but very few of the everyday items—ceramics, bottle glass, tobacco pipe fragments, and animal bone—that define eighteenth-century life for today’s archaeologists. Fortunately, these practices—fairly common at the time—were about to come to an end at Colonial Williamsburg.

A 'Lost' City Of The Mycenaeans: The Exploration

2009-05-09T04:01:00.000-07:00

Along an isolated, rocky stretch of Greek shoreline, a Florida State University researcher and his students are unlocking the secrets of a partially submerged, "lost" harbor town believed to have been built by the ancient Mycenaeans nearly 3,500 years ago.

"This is really a remarkable find," said Professor Daniel J. Pullen, chairman of FSU's Department of Classics. "It is rare indeed to locate an entire town built during the Late Bronze Age that shows this level of preservation."

Pullen and a colleague, Assistant Professor of Classical Studies Thomas F. Tartaron of the University of Pennsylvania, led students from both universities in conducting an initial study of the site during May and June of 2007. What they found was unique: an archaeological site that required very little digging.

"Because of soil erosion and tectonic subsidence" -- the latter induced by earthquakes along the numerous local faults -- "much of the soil had already been stripped from the site," Pullen said. "So the architectural remains of about 20 acres of closely built structures were plainly visible."

Although more than three millennia of earthquakes and other factors have collapsed the structures, what remains are the buildings' foundations, walls that in some places still stand nearly 5 feet tall, and a number of clues as to the settlement's construction and purpose.

"All of the structures were laid out in a grid pattern, which suggests that the entire community was planned and then built all at once, rather than piecemeal," Pullen said. "This would indicate that the settlement was built with some strategic purpose -- perhaps as a military or naval outpost."

The settlement, referred to as Korphos-Kalamianos by Pullen and Tartaron, rests on the shores of the Saronic Gulf in the western Aegean Sea about 60 miles to the southwest of the Greek capital, Athens. Directly across the gulf, the ancient city-state of Kolonna on Aigina likely was a rival of the emerging city-state of Mycenae, which sits about 40 miles inland to the west, during the period between 1400 and 1200 B.C. when Korphos-Kalamianos was built.

"We have identified some fortification walls with gates on the inland side of Korphos-Kalamianos, which does suggest that the town had at least some role as a fortress, possibly to protect the harbor," Pullen said.

Pullen and Tartaron's 2007 work involved conducting a systematic study of the architectural remains at Korphos-Kalamianos and producing an accurate map of their location using Global Positioning System and other high-tech instruments. This summer, they plan to return to the site with more students (five FSU graduate students and two alumni will make the trip) to conduct underwater research along the shoreline.

"We don't know exactly why, but some portion of the settlement is now submerged in the Saronic Gulf," Pullen said. "We can say that in the Bronze Age the configuration of the coastline at Kalamianos was very different from that of today. So this summer, we plan to collaborate with Greece's department of underwater antiquities on a bathymetric survey of the shallow waters around the Korphos region that should clarify aspects of the Bronze Age coastline." (Bathymetry is the measurement of the depths of oceans, seas or other large bodies of water.)

Pullen and Tartaron have named their three-year undertaking the Saronic Harbors Archaeological Research Project, or SHARP, and shared their initial findings at a meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America in Chicago in January. SHARP has received financial support from several groups, including the Institute for Aegean Prehistory, the Loeb Classical Library Foundation, the Stavros S. Niarchos Foundation, FSU and the University of Pennsylvania.

Underwater in Archaeology

2009-05-09T01:07:00.000-07:00

Underwater archaeology is a sub-discipline, which studies submerged sites, artifacts, human remains and landscapes. It is to be seen in the larger context of maritime archaeology, which studies human relations with oceans, lakes and rivers and is complemented by nautical archaeology, which studies vessel construction and use.

Archaeological sites located under water are an important source of historic information. Often they contain, due to the lack of oxygen, material that is lost on comparable sites on dry land.

Techniques
The surveying, excavation and preservation of sites are important phases of the process of underwater archaeological research.

A variety of archaeological sciences are used in underwater archaeology:

* The study of history and writings relating historic events,
* Physics, information sciences, and chemistry,
* Cultural anthropology, which studies the different cultures and their variation, examining the impact of interchange,
Dendrochronology, which serves to date timbers,
* Archaeobotany and archaeozoology to understand plant and animal material (for instance the identification of pollen samples, seeds or animal skeletons),
* X-ray of concretions to identify about their interior or to make writings visible,
* Geology, which can inform about soil movements transforming a site or changes in sea level, erosion or deposition of sediment material.

Qualifications
Archaeological sites are very fragile and sensitive to intrusion. Even an intervention that opens a site for research purposes “damages” the archaeological information contained therein, as the site is not undisturbed any more. It is therefore important that information contained therein is carefully recorded.

Archaeology : The Definition

2009-05-08T03:48:00.000-07:00

Archaeology is the scientific recovery and study of artifacts (objects made by humans) of past cultures. By examining artifacts and how and where they were found, archaeologists try to reconstruct the daily lives of the people of those cultures. Archaeological artifacts can include anything from ancient Greek pottery vessels found at the bottom of the sea to disposable plastic bottles found at modern dump sites. Thus, studies in archaeology can extend from the beginning of human prehistory to the most recent of modern times.

Disciplines

Since the mid-twentieth century, as new laboratory technologies have become available, the number of disciplines or fields of study that are linked to archaeology have expanded. However, the individual field archaeologist tends to focus his or her research on a specific culture or era in time.

Prehistoric archaeology. Prehistoric archaeologists seek to discover and write about the culture of ancient people who left behind no written history. Prehistory has no definite time period, having lasted for different times in different parts of the world. European prehistory ended with the appearance of primitive written languages around 2500 B.C. American prehistory, on the other hand, came to a close only 500 years ago when European explorers visited the New World and began keeping written reports of the people they had met.

Historic archaeology. Historic archaeologists seek a detailed understanding of cultures that have existed between the end of prehistory and the recent past. Their studies of a particular culture are much more complex. They are able to examine artifacts as well as review written documents pertaining to the time and place of that culture. A relatively new subdiscipline of historic archaeology is urban archaeology. It attempts to understand our current culture and cultural trends by examining material found at modern dump sites.

Words to Know

Artifact: In archaeology, any human-made item that relates to the culture under study.
Classical archaeology: Archaeological research that deals with ancient history, ancient architecture, or any of the now-extinct civilizations, such as Greek, Egyptian, Roman, Aztec, or Mayan.
Historic archaeology: Archaeological studies focusing on the eras of recorded history.
Prehistoric archaeology: Archaeological studies focusing on eras before the appearance of written languages.
Classical archaeology: Classical archaeologists focus on the monumental art, architecture, and history of all ancient civilizations, including those of Greece, Egypt, and China. The roots of classical archaeology can be traced to the European fascination with Biblical studies and ancient scholarship. The classical archaeologist is perhaps the most popular public stereotype. The Indiana Jones movie character, for example, is based on the fantastic exploits of a classical archaeologist.

Field methods

Before the twentieth century, most archaeology consisted of randomly collecting artifacts that could be found lying on the surface of sites or in caves. Because most early archaeological expeditions were financed by private individuals and wealthy collectors, broken artifacts were often left behind. Only intact and highly crafted items were thought to have any value. Consequently, very little was learned about the cultures that made those artifacts.

Modern archaeologists are much more thorough in their research. They first survey or inspect the surface of an archaeological site to determine whether it might hold artifacts or other useful information about a culture. They then begin an organized excavation or digging operation to determine where the majority of artifacts are located at a site. Traditional tools used in excavation are picks, shovels, trowels, and hand-held shaker screens.

To place artifacts in time periods, archaeologists use a variety of dating techniques. A basic field technique is to observe the stratigraphy, or the arrangement or layers of rock and soil, while digging at a site. Soil and artifacts are deposited and layered one above the other like the layers of an onion. Artifacts found at deeper layers are much older than those found near the top. Beginning in the late 1940s, archaeologists began to use radiocarbon or C-14 dating, a highly accurate dating technique. A small sample of organic (living) material found at a site, such as wood or bone, is analyzed in a laboratory to determine the time period in which it existed.

Current controversy

In the United States in the late twentieth century, controversy arose over the archaeological excavation of ancient Native American grave sites. For archaeologists, graves have provided a very important source of knowledge about past cultures. Although the people of prehistoric North American cultures left no written history, they buried their dead surrounded with material goods of their time.

Present-day Native Americans, however, believe ancestral graves should not be disturbed. If they are, then any remains and artifacts should be buried with ceremony. In response to Native American concerns, the U.S. government passed the Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act in 1990. This federal law penalizes anyone selling or trading illegally obtained Native American human remains and cultural items. It also requires all museums and universities that receive federal funding to repatriate or give back their Native American collections to tribes who claim cultural or religious ownership over those materials.

Archaeologists have countered that, in many cases, it is almost impossible to link ancient materials with modern Native American cultures. They also argue that museum materials are part of the heritage of the entire nation. Giving these materials back will prevent any further studies from being conducted in the future.

4,300-Year-Old Queen's Tomb in Egypt

2009-05-08T03:27:00.000-07:00

The 4,300-year-old monument is believed to be the tomb of Queen Sesheshet, the mother of Pharaoh Teti, the founder ancient Egypt's 6th dynasty.
Once nearly five stories tall, the pyramid—or at least what remains of it—lay beneath 23 feet (7 meters) of sand.

The discovery is the third known subsidiary, or satellite, pyramid to the tomb of Teti. It's also the second pyramid found this year in Saqqara, an ancient royal burial complex near current-day Cairo.

"I always say you never know what the sands of Egypt might hide," said Zahi Hawass, secretary general of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA).
"This might be the most complete subsidiary pyramid ever found at Saqqara," added Hawass, who is also a National Geographic Society explorer-in-residence.

Surprise in the Sand
Archaeologists also found remnants of a white limestone casing for the surviving, 16-foot-tall (5-meter-tall) pyramid base. The angle of the base helped them determine that the pyramid's walls stood at a 51-degree angle.

Based on that angle, the team determined that the pyramid was originally 46 feet (14 meters) tall and about 72 feet (22 meters) square at its base.

The researchers were somewhat surprised to find a pyramid at the Teti site, since they thought the area had been thoroughly searched. Archaeologists had already found subsidiary pyramids for Teti's two principal wives Iput I and Khuit, about a hundred years ago and in 1994, respectively. Teams have been digging in the area for more than 20 years. "One hundred years ago they used to take sand and put it in unexcavated areas," Hawass said.

"The archaeologists in the past used this area as a location for the sand. No one could think there is anything here."

Tomb robbers, however, had known the pyramid was there—archaeologists found that a shaft had been created to allow access to Sesheshet's funerary chamber.
Due to those assumed tomb raids, archaeologists don't expect to find Sesheshet's mummy when they reach the burial chamber weeks from now. But they do anticipate finding inscriptions about the queen, whose name, perhaps coincidentally, evokes the goddess of history and writing, Seshat.

Mother Love
Starting from the 4th dynasty (2616 to 2494 B.C.), pharaohs often built pyramids for their wives and mothers.

"Mothers were revered in ancient Egypt," said Salima Ikram, a professor of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo, who was not involved in the discovery.

"Building pyramids for one's mother in her dead state … was fairly emphasized in the whole vision of kingship that the ancient Egyptians had," Ikram said.

"That was something that was instituted during [a pharaoh's] lifetime and was a very public way of expressing his debt to her, his connection to her, and her importance in Egypt politically and as a symbol for kingship."

Sesheshet's son Teti might have been more motivated than the average pharaoh to pay homage to his mother. Sesheshet had come from a powerful family and probably supported his ascendancy to the throne during turmoil at the end of the 5th dynasty.

"She's one of the important ladies at that time," said Hakim Haddad, general director of excavations in Egypt.

"At the end of the 5th dynasty and the beginning of the 6th dynasty, there was a conflict between two branches of the royal families."

The American University's Ikram added, "I assume Teti thought it would be a good plan to make his mother a pyramid."

Regardless of Teti's motivations, SCA director Hawass says the newfound pyramid is special because of its association with a female ruler.

"You can discover a tomb or a statue, but to discover a pyramid it makes you happy. And a pyramid of a queen—queens have magic."

"Crown" of Alexander the Great

2009-05-07T04:57:00.000-07:00

Researchers said that an ancient Greek tomb thought to have held the body of Alexander the Great's father is actually that of Alexander's half brother.
This may mean that some of the artifacts found in the tomb—including a helmet, shield, and silver "crown"—originally belonged to Alexander the Great himself. Alexander's half brother is thought to have claimed these royal trappings after Alexander's death.

The tomb was one of three royal Macedonian burials excavated in 1977 by archaeologists working in the northern Greek village of Vergina.
Excavators at the time found richly appointed graves with artifacts including a unique silver headband, an iron helmet, and a ceremonial shield, along with a panoply of weapons and an object initially identified as a scepter.

"[Archaeologists] announced that the burial in the main chamber of the large rich [tomb] was that of Philip II, father of Alexander the Great, who was assassinated in 336 B.C," said Eugene N. Borza, professor emeritus of ancient history at Pennsylvania State University.
But recent analyses of the tombs and the paintings, pottery, and other artifacts found there, suggest that the burials are in fact one generation more recent than had previously been thought, Borza said.

"Regarding the paraphernalia we attribute to Alexander, no single item constitutes proof, but the quality of the argument increases with the quantity of information," he said.
"We believe that it is likely that this material was Alexander's. As for the dating of the tombs themselves, this is virtually certain."

Tomb Mystery
The original excavation at Vergina was led by Manolis Andronikos, an archaeologist at Greece's Aristotle University of Thessaloniki who died in 1992.
His team found the first tomb to be a simple stone box containing human remains identified as a mature male, a somewhat younger female, and a newborn.
Tomb II, a large vaulted tomb with two chambers, contained the remains of a young woman and a mature male. Tomb III, with two vaulted chambers, was the resting place of a young teenager, most likely a male. Both of the larger tombs contained gold, silver, and ivory ornaments, as well as ceramic and metal vessels.

"[Andronikos] presented his theories [that the tombs were those of Alexander's father and his family] with great skill, and the Greek nation responded with fervent enthusiasm," Borza said.
"Indeed I was one of those who, in two early articles in the late 1970s, accepted Andronikos' view that the remains were those of Philip II."

Borza started to doubt Andronikos' conclusions, however, as he studied the evidence.
He contacted Olga Palagia, an art historian at the University of Athens, to evaluate the tombs' construction, pottery, and paintings.
Soon the duo realized the significance of the fact that Tomb II and Tomb III were built using a curved ceilings called barrel vaults.

"The earliest securely dated barrel vault in Greece dates to the late 320s [B.C.], nearly a generation after the death of Philip II," Borza told National Geographic News.
Palagia also found that paintings on the exterior frieze of the tomb reflected themes that were likely from the age of Alexander the Great, rather than that of his father.
The paintings depict a ritual hunt scene with Asian themes, suggesting influences resulting from Alexander's extensive campaigns to the east.

Treasures
The six-foot (two-meter) scepter found at the burial site is another clue, Borza added.
"We have several surviving coins issued in his own lifetime showing Alexander holding what appears to be a scepter of about that height," he said.

Additionally, a number of silver vessels discovered in Tomb II and Tomb III are inscribed with their ancient weights, which use a measurement system introduced by Alexander the Great a generation after Philip II's death.

"Once we have determined on archaeological grounds that Tomb II is a generation later than Philip II's death, we can then ask, Whose tomb is it?" Borza said.

"We have a double royal burial from this era attested in the ancient literature. Thus the tomb is that of [Alexander's half brother] Philip III Arrhidaeus and his queen, Adea Eurydice."
Borza and Palagia discussed their new analysis at the meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America in January. Their findings will be published in a forthcoming study from the German Archaeological Institute.

Most of the ancient artifacts found at Vergina are on display today at a museum at the site of the tombs.

Death of Alexander
Alexander died of disease in ancient Babylon, near modern-day Baghdad, Iraq, in 323 B.C.
His generals appointed Philip III to take his place, and the half brother claimed Alexander's royal objects as public symbols to solidify his power, historians suggest.

Alexander's son, Alexander IV, who was appointed joint king along with Philip III, was assassinated around 310 B.C. He is likely buried in Vergina's Tomb III, which contains the remains of a young teenager, Borza said.
Historically, the only known Macedonian royal teenage burial is that of Alexander IV, he explained.
Alexander's father, Phillip II, is buried in Tomb I, along with his wife and their infant, according to Borza.

"Tomb I is from the age of Philip II—unlike the big chamber tombs, which are later—and the human remains of the three burials accord well with the assassinations of these individuals."
Winthrop Lindsay Adams, a professor of history at the University of Utah who was not involved with the study, said Borza's work builds on what other specialists have thought about the various aspects of the Vergina tombs.
The work of Borza and his colleagues convincingly make the case that Tomb II is the final resting place of Alexander's half brother, Adams explained.
"Indeed for most scholars working in fourth-century Macedonia, the original attribution by Andronikos now seems doubtful," he said. "This case is convincing."

Pyramid Built by Newfound Ancient Culture

2009-05-07T02:48:00.000-07:00

Archaeologists first found the objects about 15 years ago in the valley of Tulancingo, a major canyon that drops off into Mexico's Gulf Coast.
Several stone sculptures recently found in central Mexico point to a previously unknown culture that likely built a mysterious pyramid in the region, archaeologists say.

Most of the 41 artifacts "do not fit into any of the known cultures of the Valley of Tulancingo, or the highlands of central Mexico," said Carlos Hernández, an archaeologist at Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History in the central state of Hidalgo.
Many of the figures are depicted in a sitting position, with their hands placed on their knees.
Some have headdresses or conical hats with snakes at the base, which could represent Ehécatl-Quetzalcóatl, the Aztec god of the wind. One figure shows a man emerging from the jaws of a jaguar.

The sculptures are also made of flat stucco—a combination of fine sand, lime, and water—and painted blue or green to the give the appearance of jade.
All of the artifacts date to the Epiclassic period between A.D. 600 to 900.
Some Mexican and foreign archaeologists have said the sculptures weren't ancient and thus false, Hernández said.

"But by linking all the characteristics that make them different, [such as their location in Tulancingo and time period], allows us to say that they should be considered as a product of a different culture [called Huajomulco]."
The culture is named after an area in Hidalgo.

Baffling Pyramid
Some of the artifacts were also found near the mysterious Huapalcalco pyramid in Hidalgo, whose origin has been a source of debate among archaeologists. The pyramid's proportions, along with smaller structures that were painted black and white, do not correspond to the Toltec or Teotihuacan cultures of the same area and time period. The Teotihuacan people, who lived from 400 B.C. to A.D. 700, constructed one of the largest pyramid complexes in the pre-Hispanic Americas, which refers to cultures that lived on the continent before the Spanish conquest of the Western Hemipshere.
The Toltecs, who came afterward, were made up of several groups of South Americans that together formed an empire famous for its artists and builders in the Teotihuacan capital of Tula from A.D. 900 until the 1100s.

The pottery found at the site—rough, cylindrical vessels that are gray and reddish-brown in color—is also not familiar to experts.
Based on the artifacts' discovery near the pyramid,"it is likely that the Huapalcalco pyramid has been built by people from this new culture," Hernández said.
Thomas Charlton, an archaeologist at University of Iowa, has worked in the state of Hidalgo.

He said that ample evidence—including the new artifacts—links a new pre-Hispanic culture to the Huapalcalco pyramid.
"It's a reasonable hypothesis [that] near the Valley of Tulancingo, there is a site that looks like it existed between the fall of the Teotihuacan and the beginning of the Tula [Toltec]," Charlton added.
"We know that there's an occupation [from this time] near Tulancingo.
"After the Teotihuacan, there were all sorts of smaller states throughout Mexico. It's part of the cycle after the fall of an empire."

Creative Era
Michael Smith, an archaeologist at Arizona State University, agreed.
"The notion that there would be an independent culture in [the Epiclassic] period is not surprising at all," he said.
"It was a very creative period, with rich development."
Future excavations of Huapalcalco should solidify the link to a new pre-Hispanic culture, and help archaeologists glean clues about this lost time, Hernández said.
"The [Epiclassic] period is considered a time of dynamic development—new trade, cities, and development," said Arizona State's Smith, "but one we don't know much about."

Artifacts from Woodland Period

2009-05-06T02:04:00.000-07:00

Artifacts that have survived decomposition include bone and shell tools, beads made of bird bone and shell, fish hooks carved from deer toe and shin bones, rattles made of turtle shells, and a wide variety of awls, needles, and pottery-making tools crafted from animal bones.
Most of Woodland Period habitation sites produce similar artifacts. Clay pottery, distinctively decorated according to the custom of the people who made it, enables archaeologists to distinguish one group from another.

The State Museum of Pennsylvania, Archaeology

Artifacts at President Lincoln’s Cottage

2009-05-06T01:47:00.000-07:00

Archaeology at President Lincoln’s Cottage has been an ongoing process since the start of the project. During the most recent phase of archaeological monitoring, what appeared to be an early “trash pit” was discovered during trenching on the north side of the Cottage and an archaeological dig was scheduled for comprehensive collection of artifacts.

Among the items found were hundreds of ceramic fragments, bits of iron, and cobblestones from an original cobblestone gutter on the ellipse north of President Lincoln’s Cottage. Artifacts discovered in the third phase of archaeology included pieces that date as early as 1660 and as late as 1940, with the majority of artifacts dating between 1790-1860.

By Erin Carlson Mast

Losari Temple, Indonesia (Part I)

2009-05-05T04:24:00.000-07:00

The temple was buried under the very hard ground in the valley southwest of Merapi mountain. No one knows - at least until early 2004 - that there was a temple under the salak plantation in Losari village, even though the land where salak plantation is known as a bow-rice field temple. Perhaps the field would be the story that was told from generation to generation which was not meaningful if Muhammad Badri - owner of the land - did not find the temple stones in 2004.

When Muhammad Badri assisted by his neighbors were creating an irrigation channel to irrigate rice fields in the surrounding areas. They made a channel which was not too wide nor deep through the middle of his farm. In the middle of the digging, suddenly they found some pieces of temple stones. After they dug deeper, they found more stones. The digging finally reach the structure of a building that was still neatly arranged with a square hole in the middle of it. Muhammad Badri did not dare to work more.

The news about the discovery was heard by the research team of Archeology Center of Yogyakarta who had been doing a research in the temple of Singo Barong Site (Mantingan Site) in 2005 - 2 km northwest of the temple Losari site. Site hen reviewed, first team visited Muhammad Badri's house. When the teams were invited to the site, they knew that the stones in Muhammad Badri's house were the roof of the temple that was taken from the building structure. The structure of the building were still intact from the legs to the body temple. Only the roof that were already disclosed.

In 2006 there was a bid from a private foundation in Jakarta, the Tahija Foundation, to finance the activities of Archeology Research Center in Yogyakarta. Accidentally that time Losari temple site has not been proposed to be inspected, because of limited of government funds. And in fact there are many resources such as archaeological artifacts, sites, and areas that have not been examined and managed well because of limited funds, energy, and time. Therefore, the role of the private sector in research and management of archaeological resources may be one of the alternatives. Then Losari temple would be one of the proposed research when the bids from the private sector came.

January 2007 occurred cooperation Temple Losari research phase I of the Foundation with the Central Jakarta Tahija Archeology Yogyakarta. Tahija as the foundation of the funds, while the Archeology Center of Yogyakarta as the executor. In the implementation of the Archeology Research Center in Yogyakarta also involve experts from various other institutions, namely: Central Conservation ancient heritage of Central Java, Department of Archeology at the Faculty of Cultural Sciences Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, Central Investigation and Development of Technology of Volcanology of Yogyakarta, and of course the Office of Culture and Tourism District Magelang.

In the phase I study conducted for 20 days, 15 boxes of excavation had been successfully opened. The excavation done with trench techniques by following-lane alley in the range of Salak tree. The use of trench technique that can be expected to reduce or minimize the damage of salak farm caused by the activities of excavation.

Research stage 1 only found a small temple which was estimated as the Perwara temple. The Perwara temple was excavated to 4 m depth from the surface. This temple is Hindu religious background, which appeared from the corner of the roof of temple decoration in the form of Ratna (gem). Hindu temples are usually comprised of a main temple, in front of it there are three perwara temples and is surrounded by fence. If the main temple facing east, then the perwara temple facing west, to the contrary, if the main temple facing west then the perwara temple facing east. The perwara temple that already found was facing west, so the possibility to the main temple was facing east. However, it was unknown the position of perwara temple. North, central or south? It was just one perwara temple found.
to be continued...

An Archeological Excavation in the Nile River

2009-05-04T04:08:00.000-07:00

For the first time, the Nile River will be the subject of an archeological excavation. An Egyptian archeological team affiliated with the Supreme Council of Antiquities will track down the locations of the river’s ancient sunken treasures.

Alaa Mahrous, director of the underwater antiquities department in Alexandria, told Daily News Egypt that the team of archaeologists headed by Dr Zahi Hawass, director of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, has selected the Nile to be the subject of their search. The river has not been excavated to date.

“The survey will cover the area between the quarries in Aswan and Abydos. Over the centuries this was a significant area — either for the ancient Egyptians or the many rulers of the country who followed,” Mahrous explained.

“The granite quarries were located in Aswan. The statues and obelisks used to be cut and shaped in the mountains before they were shipped to Luxor and Abydos.”

The team hopes to find any pieces that might have went down while being loaded on unloaded from ships. “It is also possible to discover shipwrecks as many huge boats sank along with their load which consisted of statues, pottery and merchandise. We also have information regarding two small obelisks that settled in the river bed 10 km off Luxor as they were being shipped to Cairo by Maspero.”

Mahrous pointed out that, fortunately, the geography of the Nile hasn’t changed, especially in Upper Egypt. In addition, the river’s alluvial mud is a protective agent. Unlike the seawater that erodes the wood, the mud protects all kinds of artifacts.

“But I would like to stress again that this will be only a survey to locate the site of the antiquities. Recovering them will follow at a different stage,” noted Mahrous, who described how state-of-the-art technology will be used in the survey.

“This includes a sizeable rubber boat that has been provided with special facilities for accommodating and protecting the survey tools,” said Mahrous.

“Our survey tools will consist of the ‘side scan sonar’ that reveals the artifacts buried under the river bed, the ‘Bommer’ that penetrates the mud and sand found in the depths of the river as well as the GPS that is used in pointing out geographical locations, a tool that will prove effective in spotting the artifacts’ exact locations,” the official added.

“We will be able to read the results immediately, because the sonar is also connected to a computer on board, which will show images of what stands on the river bed or what is buried under the mud.”

“The GPS will guide us through several geographical locations,” Mahrous added. “In the case of an object being discovered, our team of divers will swim down to examine it, ensuring it isn’t a significant monument that would be missed.

“But a small dive as this isn’t as easy as some think. To dive in the Nile you also have to deal with strong winds, the high density of the river water and intensity of alluvial mud that, within seconds, can turn the surroundings into dark recesses.”

Based on the information relating to this survey, the ensuing stages will be decided.
“But we aim to carry out a survey of all the locations of sunken antiquities countrywide, a plan that will take us years of hard work.”

The Nile bed in Luxor and Aswan, pictured above, is expected to contain well-preserved antiquities